


Deadly Consequences

by Skycrystal23



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Artemis Crock & Tara Markov, Conner Kent - Freeform, F/M, Kaldur'ahm - Freeform, M/M, Mom!Artemis, background!M'gann/Conner, past!Artemis Crock/Wally West - Freeform, past!Violet/Brion Markov, past!torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:48:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 20
Words: 51,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22276618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skycrystal23/pseuds/Skycrystal23
Summary: Time goes on until it doesn’t.The world around him began to slow and it definitely wasn’t in a way that the romance movies make it seem. There was electricity in the air and Bart felt off. There were sparks of lightning dancing around his fingers, he looked up and to the side. His reflection in the glass windows of the base were crackles of lightning and fireworks moving ever so slowly in the background. He’s never felt like this before. Bart turned his head and looked the other way over the balcony and was horrified by what he saw barreling towards him.
Relationships: Artemis Crock & Clone Roy Harper | Will Harper, Artemis Crock & Dick Grayson, Artemis Crock & Zatanna Zatara, Barbara Gordon/Dick Grayson, Bart Allen & Jaime Reyes, Bart Allen/Eduardo Dorado Jr., Garfield Logan/Perdita, Jaime Reyes/Traci Thirteen, Tim Drake & Cassie Sandsmark
Comments: 19
Kudos: 53
Collections: 2019 Young Justice Big Bang





	1. The First of Many...

**Author's Note:**

> I'm super happy to be apart of this Collection! Thank you to my artist @dlanorart on Tumblr! The art pieces are amazing! I would also like to thank my replacement editor @letgraysonheart on Tumblr! The editing had to all be done last minute and it wouldn't have been as clean as it is! Once again, round of applause to @dlanorart and @letgraysonheart! I hope everyone enjoys this fic, Happy Reading!

For the longest time children had always been underestimated. They were viewed as insignificant and pitiful and were treated as such. It was the adults’ biggest mistake. Underestimating children was the reason the Light had dissipated. After that these children were never underestimated again. After the fall of the Light and the banishment of the Reach the world fell into a sort of normalcy. The heroes chased down and locked up petty thugs along with the occasional B-list bad guys. Fighting crime wasn’t easy but nothing like how it was when they were fighting an impending doomsday.  


The so-called children became adults. It was a late Friday night when the teams returned from their inter-connected missions. The team has been growing ever since the Reach left Earth’s orbit, more and more heroes were appearing all around the world. As it was, the WatchTower was now and would continue to be the main base of operations. The League would work there alongside the covert team and occasionally the Outsiders. Of course, Garfield still kept the Outsiders giant penthouse. It was much livelier than the cold and quiet tower floating in space.  


_“Kid Flash, B23.”_ The robotic voice announced throughout the Watchtower. The familiar auburn-haired hero stepped out of the zeta-tube with a few cuts and bruises as well as a smile on his face. His blue and black-clad companion soon appeared not long after he stepped off the platform. Everyone was gathered in the center, exhausted and bruised from their missions, and awaited their debriefing.  


Miss Martian entered the area flashing everyone a friendly smile. M’gann had taken over partially leading the team, more so babysitting them as Batman would call it. After Wally, the original Kid Flash, had passed the core team drifted. Nightwing went off to do his own thing in Blüdhaven, Kaldur became the new Aquaman while Artemis was around from time to time when she wasn’t working or taking care of Lian. This left M’gann and Connor to semi-manage the team while collaborating alongside with the Justice League. M’gann began speaking to the team, her words were soft and encouraging as always.  


Bart was preoccupied, he always was. He stood there staring at his feet as if the dirt on his shoes was the most interesting thing in the world. Suddenly he was elbowed in the side, making him jump slightly and he looked up while bringing a hand to his ribs. Jaime, who was right next to him, motioned with his eyes to the front. M’gann was looking towards the two of them expecting an answer to a question Bart hadn’t heard her ask.  


“Kid Flash and I secured the threat and waited for the police to arrive. We also ensured that all citizens in the building were accounted for once they were outside. There were no casualties.” Jaime cut in.  


She smiled warmly, “Good, good.”  


When everyone was dismissed there was a collective sigh of relief that came from the group of teens. Most of them headed for the showers and then turned in for the night in the guest bedrooms strewn about the WatchTower.  


“Bart, can I speak with you?” M’gann asked just as he was about to race to the nearest zeta-tube.  


“I’ll text you later,” he mumbled to Jaime.  


His shoulders slumped as he dragged his feet over to M’gann. He stood there pulling at his fingers like he did whenever he was nervous or anxious. It seemed to be something he did more often as time went on. Her hand came to rest on his shoulder giving it a comforting squeeze.  


“Is everything okay? You seem…troubled.” she said, pausing to find the right word.  


“Is it because of Wally’s birthday tomorrow?” she asked, making him look at her partially shocked and partially horrified, “I did not read your mind Bart, I promise,” she assured him.  


The speedster moved a step back from her, shaking her hand off his shoulder. He was as tall as her now, he was still growing too. It wasn’t that long ago that he was the short stack of the team only to now be one of the tallest here. “Bart I may not be reading your mind, but I can feel the distress your mind is under, you should speak with someone about this. If not me then Artemis is willing to -”  


“No! Not Artemis.” he said shaking his head so quickly that his face became a blur.  


His green eyes darted to the glowing holographic screen behind her. They fixated on the time: 11:45 pm. He needed to go home. It hit him then when he remembered that he couldn’t go to the Garrick’s anymore, Bart was still getting used to that. “This talk was crash and all but I gotta go, bye!” He said hurriedly before zooming to the nearest zeta-tube. He was gone quicker than the A.I could register his designation exiting the tower. M’gann stood there, cape rustling from the breeze Bart created. She sighed and looked back at the zeta-tube which he had just exited.  


A flash of light and a robotic voice announced his arrival back at the Outsiders home. Could it constitute as a home? Technically it was his home now, he slept here, ate food here, hung out here...so yes this was sort of Bart’s home. It didn’t really feel like it though. He heard something being poured in the kitchen, he appeared on the stool at the breakfast bar within the blink of an eye. Gar was at the counter, jumping where he stood with his smoothie glass in hand when he noticed Bart now sitting in the stool across the counter.  


“Dude you scared the hell out of me!” Gar hissed albeit his smirk gave away the falsity of his anger.  


Bart scratched the back of his head, “Sorry.”  


Gar waved Bart’s apology away and took a sip from the glass he was holding. Bart took notice to the dark circle that formed around Gar’s left eye. The bruise was blossoming outwards in a deep shade of purple. If he recalled correctly the hit happened a few nights ago. Gar and Perdita were out getting dinner and he ended up coming back with quite the shiner. Perdita mentioned in passing to Bart that there was someone being mugged and Gar miscalculated and the guy hit him square in the eye.  


“I heard M’gann pulled you aside,” he said, “Sorry, my sister is super protective and is like if a helicopter mom merged with an alien.”  


Bart laughed at that. Everyone was always asking if he was alright and Bart always became evasive. It was a little game he liked to play. Emotions weren’t really divulged all that much in the past. Something as normal as crying could get you killed – the Reach didn’t tolerate ‘meat’ that couldn’t pull their weight and emotional baggage was something that could really weigh a person down. The clock on the wall suddenly chimed its melodic song as it struck midnight. It sounded like little tiny bells ringing to the tune _Au Claire de la Lune_. Both Bart and Garfield turned their heads and looked to the old-fashioned clock on the wall.  


It didn’t very well fit the sleek modern aesthetic of the penthouse. But it was a gift from M’gann to Garfield therefore it hung on the wall in all of its outdated glory. Gar extended his glass, holding it up to the air.  


“Happy Birthday Wally.” Gar said with a solemn smile.  


At that moment Bart shrunk in on himself. Gar turned back around and gave Bart a warm smile. People nowadays kept giving him those small looks of pity. They all knew it and Bart did too.  


If he just slowed down and took some of the hits Wally would be alive still.  


But Gar wasn’t one of those people. He didn’t give him looks of pity and he didn’t constantly offer his apologies. A few years ago, Bart told Gar that he would never be the leader of the team because truthfully, he wouldn’t be. At least not from what Bart learned during his childhood, but the future was different now. Gar was the leading the Outsiders and he was damn well good at it. He had his faults but then again all of them did. Bart swiveled in his stool and hopped off, red boots touching the tile floor.  


“I’m glad you’re here Bart. The Outsiders need Kid Flash,” he said, “Not Wally, but you Bart. We need you.”  


“Thanks.” Bart answered quietly.  


Once again, he was a blur of colours as he raced up the staircase and into his room. The blur continued as he bounced around his room changing into a more comfortable attire. In less than a second, his Kid Flash uniform was folded neatly and placed on top of his dresser, the light in the room turned off, and with him now lying flat on his stomach on his bed in shorts and a t-shirt. His phone on the bedside table suddenly lit up. The white light made the orange of his wall glow warmly behind it. He turned his head and reached over to check the message; it was from Jaime.  


**HERMANO:** _Everything alright with Miss M, ese?_  


Of course, he was asking about what had happened when he’d been pulled aside after the debriefing. Bart laid there staring at the painfully bright screen trying to think of what to text back. Then again, he could easily just leave him on read too. They were best friends though, and Bart told him everything just like Jaime told Bart everything. He decided to text back a simple reply:  


**SPEEDRACER:** _nothing, just asking about the mission_  


Bart sent the message and turned his phone off before putting it face down on the bedside table. He didn’t feel like burdening his friend with his own issues. The bed squeaked as he turned over to face the wall. He proceeded to lay there and stare at the deep orange wall for hours unable to get even a wink of sleep. After minutes of tossing and turning he stood and walked out onto the small balcony across from his bed.  


He was stood outside leaning forwards with his elbows against the metal railing watching the sunrise. It was bitter cold out for the frosty November day, so he stood bundled up with a heavy blanket draped on his shoulders. He remembered sneaking out onto the roof of the Garrick’s house to watch the sunrise. Man, Joan would holler every time she caught him.  


The news forecasts kept predicting the snow that would be coming but as everyday went past it never came. The sunrise was beautiful, bursts of strong orange and violet tones with the faintest hints of wispy pinks all stretching and lapping at the darkness it fought back. The colours reflected in his curious green eyes as he smiled. In his future, before he fixed it, there was never a sunrise or sunset. He broke from his daze when he felt a cold flake touch his nose, dissolving and seeping into his warm skin.  


The snow was falling slowly from the sky now. It didn’t seem to be the type that would stick as it melted upon impact with the ground. Snow, it was another thing he appreciated. When he stepped back inside the toasty room his face was bright red, eyes slightly teary from the cold weather he sat through. The teen dragged himself back into his warm bed finally being able to catch a few minutes of sleep until his alarm began blaring on his phone signaling that it was indeed time for school.  


“Bart sweetie you have school.” Joan said softly.  


He opened his eyes, no one was there.  


It was terrible, he hated it. Everything about school was so moded, especially the teachers. He also despised how long it lasted. How could Jaime have managed to sit through a decade and more of this? Bart was just glad he would be graduating in the two years.  


He sat in class, leg shaking and fingers tapping lightly on the desk. The poor kid, much like the rest of the speedsters, struggled staying still for long periods of time. The class was watching some old film which Bart couldn’t care less about, much like the rest of his classmates. Instead, he scrolled through his phone, brightness on low to not be caught by the teacher.  


**SPEEDRACER:** _Yo buddy Blue what is up???_  


**HERMANO:** _In class, studying._  


**SPEEDRACER:** _Dude that’s sooo moded_  


**HERMANO:** _It’s not that bad Bart. You’re just impatient._  


He quickly turned his phone off and shoved it underneath his leg when his teacher stood up from her messy desk. She was an alright teacher, a little on the boring side though. He always found himself falling asleep in her classes. The teacher walked up and down the aisles, so Bart ducked his head down and scribbled mindless words onto his paper to make it seem like he was actually taking notes. When she took her seat again, he grabbed his phone and opened it. Jaime had sent a few messages, mostly asking why he stopped responding all of a sudden.  


**HERMANO:** _What’s your plan for later? Any homework?_  


**SPEEDRACER:** _Nope, how bout we hang? It’ll be crash!!!_  


**HERMANO:** _Sorry hermano, Traci and I are going to see some new slasher film. How about later?_  


**SPEEDRACER:** _Sorry essay_  


**SPEEDRACER:** _I mean essay_  


**SPEEDRACER:** _ESSAY_  


**HERMANO:** _I didn’t think your Spanish was that bad Bart lmfao_  


The speedster fought the urge to throw his phone across the room. His phones autocorrect was so annoying sometimes. This never seemed to happen to Jaime. Then again, the few times he’s managed to snag his friends’ phone he hasn’t been able to understand anything because it was all in Spanish. He was able to pick up a few of Jaime’s familiar words here and there but everything else was gibberish to him. Bart snapped out of the memory, shaking the fuzziness of daydreaming from his mind. He finally texted what he wanted to say in the first place.  


**SPEEDRACER:** _No can do for the hang out buddy Blue. I got a super crash track meet after_  


The typing bubbles appeared as Jaime texted his response, however, before he could see it his phone was suddenly snatched from his hands. “Hey! -” he stopped mid-sentence to see his teacher standing over him with a disapproving look on her face. “Sorry,” he said, face flushed red with embarrassment as he ducked and scratched the back of his head.  


“You can get your phone at the end of the class, Mr. Allen.” She said sternly before turning and strutting back to her desk.  


He heard some of his classmates snickering or whispering amongst each other about what just happened which only made him even more uncomfortable. God, he hated school so much. His track meet was the only thing that kept him from wanting to ditch classes all day. Thankfully, by the end of the day, he was dressed in his schools’ crummy sports uniform and heading out to the field with the others. His breath fogged up and danced in the air every breath he took. Truthfully, they probably should have been inside the gym practicing but their coach always had this thing about ‘testing the limits’.  


It didn’t really affect him all that much. His metabolism was so high that he never really got too cold outside. Bart was also the fastest on the team, no surprise really, but he of course had to tone down his pace by one hundred percent.  


They started with their stretches before lining up around the track and running laps. He wasn’t paying very close attention to what was happening although a sudden feeling made his skin crawl. Goosebumps flared upon his pale skin as he stopped and looked around. It was the feeling you got when someone was watching you, and he didn’t like it one bit. He snapped out of it when his coach blew the whistle and yelled at him for suddenly stopping so he continued and forgot all about this icky feeling.  


There was another mission that night. Not all of them were called in, only the ones that were required. It was he, Robin, Blue Beetle, and Wondergirl on a recon mission. They all hadn’t been on the same team together in so long.  


“Comms up, I’m taking lead,” Tim said in their ears. Bart rolled his eyes, because when didn’t he?  


“How was the track meet?” Jaime asked.  


The four of them were lingering outside of a building in their civvies. They were waiting for some drug lord to enter the building in order to confirm that it was in fact the main hideout. Sometimes hero work didn’t always require working in uniform. Bart shrugged and glanced at his friend who was across the street from him at a bus stop.  


“Fine, did some laps, got yelled at, the usual.” he answered with a shrug.  


“Is this really necessary?” Tim asked, unimpressed by the casual conversation through the comms.  


Over the years Tim had become a lot harder and Bart thought he was too serious sometimes.  


“Ti-Robin they’re just talking. Besides, nothing is happening anyways,” Cassie chimed in.  


She was on the rooftop of an adjacent building watching carefully. Tim grunted in their ears causing all of them to roll their eyes.  


“Hey Bart, isn’t today Wally’s birthday?” Cassie asked, her voice soft yet curious. Bart’s gaze dropped to the sidewalk at the mention of it. He had pushed that piece of information to the back of his head all day and didn’t want to think about it at all.  


“How about we just change the subject?” Jaime cut in.  


Just as Cassie was about to say something back a car pulled up to the building. There were a few men who got out and looked around suspiciously. The drug lord they were waiting for was nowhere to be found.  


“Get down!” Jaime yelled from the bus stop as the men began firing at them.  


The four of them jumped into action immediately. Bart had sprinted out of the way, pulling the goggles from his pocket and fitting them snugly over his head. The infra-red triggered, and made him notice the number of thugs sticking their guns out the building’s windows. “There’s twelve – no, thirteen more in the buildi- ahh!” he yelled as he suddenly tumbled to the pavement at his top speed.  


The last time he fell like this going this fast was years ago. He felt the friction of his body sliding across the pavement burn at his clothes and the skin underneath. He continued for a few more metres, a small line of smoke trailing after him until he landed on his stomach. His friends’ voices were blaring in his ear, yet he couldn’t understand what they were saying. Their voices had become all muddled together. Bart laid still for a minute; his gaze fixed straight ahead as he watched the rest of his team fight off the assailants.  


It took a minute for the fuzziness to clear from his brain. His arms shook as he pushed himself up and when he tried to stand there was a shredding white pain that tore through his leg causing him to scream and fall back down. The teen turned himself over, feeling his entire body burn as he did. “Shit, oh shit,” Bart didn’t curse very often but this was serious. There was blood gushing from his right knee and onto the pavement. He touched the wound with his fingers tremoring and lip quivering.  


“Bart don’t touch it!” Bart turned his head and looked to see Jaime, now dressed in his blue and black armour landing on the ground beside him.  


The blue wings receded into his back, the older teen talking quietly to the scarab on his back. “I-I can’t walk,” Bart muttered, his words blurring slightly together. Some members of the team had been shot before, but he never thought he would be one of them, he was too fast, wasn’t he? Tim jogged up to them, utility belt secured around his torso. Cassie flew down as well and gasped, covering her mouth when she saw the damage.  


“Cassie call ahead to the WatchTower, Blue you get him to the medical bay there and contact Flash, I’ll- I’ll stay here and make sure they get picked up.” Tim spluttered out quickly.  


Bart barely felt himself being picked up when he was. He was beginning to feel dizzy, which was very unusual. His head lolled to the side as they ascended into the air. He swore he saw a tall broad figure standing on one of the buildings. At least, that’s what he thought just before he passed out.


	2. Mystical Suspicion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Artemis suspects the attack was more than just a covert ops gone wrong and the Justice Leagues local magician agrees with her.

A call was sent out late the night of Wally’s birthday. A lone archer was in Central City’s graveyard amongst the hundreds of headstones cropped up from the snow-dusted ground. She was crouched down, arms wrapped around herself as she stared at the name engraved in solid stone. She promised herself that she wouldn’t cry anymore yet a tear still managed to slip from her eye. Will knew where she would be tonight. They usually traded days to watch Lian because of work schedules but he always made sure he was available this day. After all, it was one of the hardest of the year for her to get through.

She swallowed the lump in her throat when she felt her cellphone buzz in her pocket. Dick’s name appeared on the glowing screen; he was calling her. Artemis stood, feeling the irritable ache in her legs from crouching in the cold for so long, and answered the phone. “Yeah?” her voice was scratchier than she wanted it to sound, she tried to cover it up with a cough. There was a lot of background noise to the call as if he was in the middle of some kind of commotion. 

“M’gann told me not to call you but this is important, so I thought I sh-” 

“- get on with it Grayson.” She cut in impatiently. 

Dick had a tendency to skirt around important information, she usually had to pry it out of him. “It’s Bart -” The phone call was cut off before he could finish his sentence. Artemis turned her phone off and slid it back into her pocket. She spared a glance back at the grave, she knew there was nothing underneath it, but it was a comfort to come here anyway. 

“Love you Wally,” she whispered before dashing out of the empty graveyard. 

_“Tigress, B07.”_

There was a flash of light as the zeta-tube in the WatchTower transported yet another person. Artemis stepped off the platform with a motorcycle helmet in hand and a worried look on her face. She and Bart had never been close before Wally _disappeared,_ but she made a vow, mostly to herself, to watch over the kid. All that was running through her mind was that she couldn’t lose another speedster. There was a small crowd of people outside of the medical bay. She was surprised as to why no one was inside checking on the kid. 

Before she reached the door, she was quickly yanked to the side. Dick nodded at her and motioned with his head for her to follow him down the corridor. He finally spoke when they were away from the crowd, he led her into a separate viewing room. Batman was there along with Barbara and Tim. “What happened?” she asked, her grey eyes glued to the one-way glass window in front of them. There were a few medical personnel running around inside, she also saw Jaime lingering off to the side still dressed head to toe in his armour. Dick opened his mouth but was quickly cut off by Barbara. 

“While on a recon they were ambushed, Bart was shot in the knee while surveying the area. At least that’s Tim’s report.” 

“Shouldn’t he be healing?” Artemis asked. Batman was hunched over with his hands braced against the desk; he was staring intently at the display before them. He seemed lost in thought until his cowl scrunched ever so slightly. “We thought so too until Blue’s scarab informed him of the biotechnological bullet that is capping Kid Flash’s meta-human abilities.” Tim said, “No meta abilities means no superspeed and super-healing.” He continued, looking up briefly from the glowing screen projected from his glove. 

Her eyes fell back to the window looking into the medical bay. The nurses were busy running back and forth surrounding the bed. She only got glimpses of pale skin and flashes of auburn hair. Her hands all of a sudden became sweaty, she wiped them on her jeans and looked away. 

“Why is no one in there?” she asked. Usually when someone was hurt there were always a group of them in there watching and trying to help as best as they could. 

“The device is emitting a low pulse and as we do not yet know the extent of the damage all meta-humans and those from off-world are to be kept away until we figure out what it is,” Batman said finally. 

His voice sounded like gravel when he spoke but also immediately gained everyone’s attention. “It’s not so asterous when you think about it,” Dick said speaking up finally. 

Artemis glanced between the four bats and watched them work, except for Dick who had placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. She glanced to Barbara who was moving between two different computer screens. Ever since the accident she had become an even bigger tech whizz and helped them incredibly when it came to information and technologies. 

“Jaime, shouldn’t he be…” 

“I mean he’s not really a meta-human. His powers come from the scarab, an external source really,” Dick explained. 

Artemis stayed in the room and waited for hours. Batman had to go out after awhile and clear the group of people from the medical bay entrance when a trusted surgeon arrived. The blonde left the room and wandered up and down the hallways of the WatchTower. Eventually she made her way back around to the medical bay and noticed Jaime sitting outside on the ground. She sauntered over and slid down the wall coming to sit on the cold floor next to him. 

“Shouldn’t you be at home; don’t you have school tomorrow?” she asked, her voice quiet enough to keep the conversation just between the two of them. 

Jaime looked up from his arms wrapped around his knees and sighed. The kid seemed tired, too tired for a kid his age to be. “No way, not while he’s in there,” he said shaking his head. Jaime and Bart always reminded her of Dick and Wally. The two were as thick as thieves and never left a man behind, well maybe except on recon but Dick was good at disappearing and reappearing when he was most needed. 

“Do you remember what happened?” she asked. 

“We were ambushed, which was strange because we were undercover so they must have been tipped off. Bart sped off when the shots were fired, he was saying something in the comms,” he looked down at the floor, brows furrowed as he tried to think back, “- I think he was counting how many in the building were firing at us and then he screamed. Tim and Cassie were finishing the rest of them and I flew over to check up on him. There was so much blood and he couldn’t walk so I – I brought him back here,” Jaime began to ramble on now. 

Her hand fell onto his shoulder and squeezed the way Dick did to her. It was a comforting gesture; one she learned her friends did a lot after joining the team. Artemis wasn’t a super gushy person, mostly due to her rough upbringing, but she knew what it was like to feel useless. She could see the helplessness in the kid’s eyes when he looked at her. 

“You did good Jaime,” her lips drew up into a soft smile. After that she stood up and offered her hand to the teenager who gladly took it, she pulled him to his feet. “I’m going to head in and check on him, why don’t you go and get some rest?” she patted his shoulder one last time and watched him nod and tiredly walk away. 

The medical bay was deadly silent when she walked inside. The lights were dimmed, and the only sounds came from the monitor next to Bart’s bed. His leg was suspended and in a scratchy white cast. It had yet to be signed but knowing Bart it would soon be covered in doodles form dozens of different coloured markers. The teenager reminded her much of Wally, at least with the hair and overenthusiasm for everything, but here were also many differences that set him aside from Wally as well. No one could ever replace Wally West, at least not in her mind. She pulled up a chair to the side of his bed and took a seat, sinking back into the hard-plastic back and sighing. 

Dick Grayson was the one who awoke her in the early morning. A fuzzy grey blanket was draped haphazardly across her body. She stretched her arms as she sat up and rolled her shoulders. The vigilante was standing beside her with two cups of coffee in his hands. 

“Thanks.” She muttered taking the cup stretched out towards her. 

Dick pulled up another chair that squeaked against the tile floor and took a seat next to her. Artemis took one long sip relishing in the feeling of the caffeinated warm liquid bringing a buzz to her groggy mind. “Is he still out?” she yawned before looking to the bed. 

The auburn-haired teen was still fast asleep which was unusual. She remembered from the time Wally broke his arm, for the millionth time, how his body kept burning through the medication as if it was nothing. Surely Bart should be conscious by now, his body should have burnt through the anesthetic long ago. 

“The bullets out but his powers are basically non-existent. Babs started running tests on the bullet but we won’t know anything more until later,” Dick explained. 

“Does the rest of the team know?” she asked. 

Dick sighed and took another sip of his coffee.

He looked more tired than he let on. There were dark circles under his eyes that suggested his sleep schedule was highly irregular. His posture was also lazier than usual. “Look I love them and all, but we don’t know why Bart was targeted or what this toxin has done to him, I mean, they’re teenagers, how are they supposed to take care of him when he’s busted?” 

“I’ll do it, I’ll watch him.” 

“…Artemis. You already have Lian and -” 

“- and I had Violet once upon a time. I’ve taken care of a speedster before Dick and besides…I could use the distraction.” 

As if on cue the teenager in the bed in front of them began to groan. The monitor sped up slightly as the speedster slowly began to regain consciousness. They watched as Bart looked around in a slight daze before his gaze fell onto the cast. “This is so moded,” he groaned while running a hand down his face. 

Dick glanced at Artemis and the blonde stood briefly taking an absence from the room. She already knew why he was here, and it wasn’t for a check-in visit as much as she wanted to believe that Dick was hospitable like that, she knew he was here for business. Someone had to explain to the poor kid that he didn’t have his speed anymore, or at least temporarily she hoped. After the explanation she left, Bart looked like he needed some time to process this himself. Artemis wandered away to grab herself a coffee from the tower’s cafeteria, she headed down the hallway away from the medical bay. 

From down the hallway, she heard a frustrated scream coming from the medical bay. She continued down the hallway and walked around the WatchTower. Eventually, she ran into Zatanna who was reading a dusty spellbook in the tower’s library. _“rood eht esolc,”_ Zatanna chanted aloud, the door to the library closed behind Artemis. Zatanna’s eyes flickered up at the archer and she promptly closed the book before leaning back in her chair.

“I heard what happened to Bart, is everything alright?” she asked batting her ocean eyes at the blonde. 

Artemis shoved her hands into her pocket, “He was shot by a bullet that even Bats has never seen before and it injected some toxin that dulls meta-abilities into him. He’ll be fine but he’s not happy.” 

“Something tells me you have a theory.” 

Artemis’ grey eyes were quick to find her friends, the corner of her mouth drawing up into an amused smirk. She sat down in an equally as plushy chair across from Zatanna and kicked her feet up onto the table getting comfortable. “This whole situation isn’t sitting right.” 

“Okay, elaborate.” 

“Flash’s rogues are far too friendly to wish Bart ill will and to be honest none of them has the expertise or precision to calculate that quickly where he would be and even if they were to Bart is just too fast. He was also the only one hit. I mean you’d think if you’re able to take out a speedster within seconds you would also go for the other three.” 

This whole situation Artemis had found fishy ever since last night. Something about this just wasn’t sitting right with her. She knew Zatanna was good for throwing theoreticals into the air. The magician raised an eyebrow at her, “So you’re saying this was planned?” 

“Yes, but I just don’t understand why.” 

Zatanna shrugged, “I mean, you don’t think it could have been a miscalculated shot from one of the men in the building? Bart’s known to be a tad reckless and he could have always not seen it.” “No. Robin confirmed last night that the ballistics were different from those used by the dealers.” 

Zatanna opened her mouth to add onto Artemis’s previous statement when there was a knock at the library door. 

_“rood eht nepo,”_ she said, the door slowly opened revealing Dick standing there with his hand in the air getting ready to knock again. 

He looked between the two women and raised an eyebrow entering the room. There was a duffle bag swung over his shoulder, he was clearly on his way out of the tower. “Am I interrupting something?” he asked wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at the two of them. Artemis straightened and glared at the childish man. 

“Is there something you need Dick?” Zatanna asked kindly. 

“Nothing, just here to tell Arty that she’s on flaming mad speedster duty. I may or may not have made his day less asterous than it already was, but I have to go so I’m bestowing caretaking duties onto you.” 

“Fantastic.” 


	3. The Hacker's Cross-Examination

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mysterious bullet has been secretly given to Barbara Gordon, the Batfamily's Oracle, to run a cross-examination to figure out what kind of toxin this thing administered.

Dick Grayson was never one for tardiness. It was one of the first rules he learned when he was Robin. So, it was no surprise that he showed up at Barbara’s apartment five minutes early for dinner. They were supposed to work on the Bart case together, and a few others as well, but Dick was never one to turn down a date-night opportunity. He used the spare key and opened the door, being careful not to drop the duffle bag and bag of Chinese takeout in the corridor, he juggled it all in one hand. Once inside, he quietly dropped the duffle bag to the ground and crept over to the kitchen counter to place the takeout container bag down.

The redhead was sitting across the room at her computer set-up toying with the bullet she had been running tests on for hours now. Her lips drew up into a smile when he attacked her from behind and enveloped her in a bear hug. 

“Wow, not even a slight jump?” he whispered pressing his lips to her cheek. 

“I could smell the food when you entered. That, and I also have a hidden camera at the door so I can see who’s there before it’s opened.” 

His stomach dropped slightly at her explanation, but he didn’t let the slight despair show on his face. He will never forgive himself for not being there for her that night, if he’d been then she wouldn’t be… Barbara touched his arm snapping him from his internal turmoil and drawing him back to the real-world. 

“How’s the super-sleuthing coming? Any update on the device Bart was shot with?” he asked quickly changing the subject. 

Barbara’s hand moved from his arm, her hand grasping a pair of tweezers and picking up the small squished up device. It was about the size of a regular bullet, even looked like one. There were faint grey lines that ran along the body of the device before connecting to the front which was now squished from impact. 

Barbara held it underneath a magnifying glass she had mounted to the desk to give them a more detailed view of it. Dick leaned over the back of her, his arms resting lazily against her shoulders. 

“There was a small capsule of liquid inside of it, most of it injected when Bart was shot but there was just enough left to cross-examine it with similar chemical samples we have collected over the years,” she said, a proud smile forming on her lips. 

Dick glanced at the far-right monitor to see the computer running a comparison of the chemical sample to the hundreds of others in the Justice League and Bat’s personal database. “Babs that will take -” 

“- hours I know which is why I cued up some films for us to watch. I was going to order pizza, but you already took care of the dinner problem,” she interrupted, looking up at him with a soft smile. 

He leaned down and pecked her on the lips. Not long after they had maneuvered to the nearby sofa, Barbara leaning against him as the two binged the set of movies lined up whilst eating and enjoying each other’s company. The two fell asleep during the end of their fourth film. It was early in the morning by then since the two of them were quite the night owls and practically lived off of caffeine. Dick awoke around lunch the next day to the sound of a high-pitched ping. He groaned and sat up rubbing the back of his neck where an ache had formed from sleeping awkwardly on the sofa. 

There was a steaming cup of coffee waiting next to him on the glass coffee table – the old wooden one had to be replaced after the incident. Barbara turned around in her wheelchair in a fresh pair of clothes, a yellow sundress to be exact, and smirked. 

“Morning Boy Wonder sleep well?” she teased. 

He felt his face grow hot when he suddenly became hyperaware of the drool running down the side of his face. Dick was quick to wipe it away with the sleeve of his wrinkled shirt and gave her a nervous smile. “You woke up just in time, I got some results on our little meta-inhibitor,” she said using her thumb to point behind her at the monitor. 

“Meta-inhibitor?” 

“If you get to add words to the dictionary then I get to name the things I’m given to investigate!” 

Dick stood, maybe a little too fast because he nearly tripped on the carpet and made his over to the monitors. While Barbara was grinning like a madwoman Dick stood there completely dumbfounded. 

“Why are you so happy? We only have a partial match.” 

“Yes, a partial match to one chemical combination and that is the additive the Reach used in their drinks a few years back. I mean the chemical uses the Reach’s formula as a base and has significantly evolved from that, I still need to break it down and Bart needs to be studied to see exactly what the hell it will do to him, but at the same time we do know that it isn’t deadly, maybe!” Barbara said all in one breath. 

“Isn’t deadly maybe?” Dick repeated, still staring at her wide-eyed. 

“Also, I scraped a metal sample off the side of it and found out that it matches the same metal used to make the inhibitor collars,” she added to sweeten the deal. He stared at her for a long time, mostly in adoration. A few years ago, he probably wouldn’t see himself with a girl for more than a week at most and here he was with Barbara Gordon absolutely dazzled by her and so, so in love with her that he could barely function half the time. They had only been dating for a few months, but man did she knock him off his feet and continued to surprise him with her talents. 

“Earth to Dick Grayson?” he snapped out of his daze and smiled at her. 

“Yeah?” he asked, his voice sounded as if he was in dreamland. 

“Shouldn’t you be informing the team? I mean this is information that would be helpful for the field, whoever has access to this biotechnology could do serious damage.” 

The young man blinked a few times and goofily nodded before smooching her cheek. She smiled and shook her head wiping the slight slobber left away with her sleeve. Dick ran around her apartment gathering the few things he brought with him, including the duffle bag from yesterday, and ran out the door. The redhead sat there and stared at the door for a moment, counting to five in her head until the door reopened. 

Dick popped his head in and looked to her, “By the way, you’re looking beautiful today.” He winked. 

“I’m going to lunch with my Dad, and by the way you left your phone,” she answered tossing his phone across the room to him. 

Dick caught it and grinned at her with his pearly white teeth. He had the signature Wayne smile, all the boys had it. Bruce had rubbed off on them when it came to the charming department. “Tell him that his favourite says hi!” he yelled before shutting the door behind him. 

This time Barbara finally turned back around and went back to work. She focused her attention back to the small device for a few minutes before getting a message on her phone from Artemis. Last night once Dick had fallen asleep, she contacted the archer unbeknownst to her boyfriend and asked her to send her updates on Bart. After all, Artemis was the one who offered to care for him while he was healing the slow and very normal way. 

She frowned when she opened the text, Bart wasn’t taking the no meta-abilities thing too well. 


	4. Like a Falling Bird

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team is sent on another covert ops mission, besides teen angst they get a little more than they bargained for.

Tonight, there was another covert op mission. M’gann assigned the team accordingly: Blue Beetle, Wondergirl, Halo, and Tara. Jaime was surprised he was even picked to go on this mission. It was an odd pairing, Jaime and Cassie had worked with the newcomers only a few times before this, so they were still trying to find their groove with them. Forager went as well; he was in charge of the bioship if they were in need of a quick escape. The alien seemed to have a way of communication with the ship that no one else could quite understand.

“I am most excited to be working with you!” Violet exclaimed, hands clapping together excitedly. 

Cassie grumbled something under her breath and instead crossed her arms and looked outside the ships window. Violet frowned; Tara didn’t seem too amused by the blonde’s behaviour either. “I wouldn’t take it personal mis amigos, Cassie and Tim are in a rough patch right now,” Jaime said much to Cassie’s dismay. 

“Rough patch?” Violet repeated staring at him slightly confused. 

“They just aren’t really together I guess, in a sense. I don’t know really,” he explained awkwardly. 

The last thing he wanted was to piss Cassie off. She would probably be able to drop kick him across the planet. Jaime didn’t know how Tim could break-up with Cassie like that, then again if Jaime was in Cassie’s position and Traci broke up with him with zero explanation and then ran off with Zatanna and the rest of the magic crew, he would probably be just as pissed as Cassie. “How is that speedster of yours? Bart was it?” Tara asked, she seemed rather relaxed with her hands behind her head and her feet kicked up. Jaime’s face went hot all of a sudden, he was glad that it was concealed underneath his armour. 

“Bart’s not – he’s fine!” he answered rather flustered. 

“Forager heard that the Bart Allen was living with Artemis Crock now.” Forager chimed in along with a few clicks attached to the end of his sentence. 

Cassie turned to the rest of the group now, “Bart’s with Artemis? I thought he was staying at the penthouse?” 

It had been a few days since Bart was shot and in Bart’s words, ‘completely moded’. Jaime had sent him a few texts to check up on him but never received any in return. It was unusual for the speedster to not return his texts immediately; it was actually unusual for him not to be texting him every waking moment but then again, he was hurt. _“You stress too much over the Impulse’s well-being Jaime Reyes!”_ Khaji Da scolded in his head. Jaime rolled his eyes but said nothing in return to the scarab’s comment. Why wouldn’t he worry, Bart was his best friend. 

“I mean yeah, I don’t know the details, but I know he’s staying with Artemis for the time being.” Jaime finally answered. 

Cassie raised an eyebrow, “How do you not know? You two are like attached at the hip.” 

“We are not attached at the hip!” he yelled throwing his hands into the air. 

_“You and the Impulse are not attached Jaime Reyes, why does the Wondergirl continue to pester us with such meaningless information?”_

Jaime ran his hands down his face and let out a frustrated sigh. Sometimes he wished he had an off button for the scarab. The bioship made a slightly beeping noise and the teens directed their attention to the front of the ship. A screen visual appeared, Nightwing’s face appearing and looking as serious as usual. 

“Hello Nightwing!” Violet greeted with a smile. 

“As you all know a few days ago Impulse was shot by an unknown device that has since inhibited his meta abilities hence his absence to the team. In the last few hours an associate of mine looked into the device and made a connection that the chemical compound uses the Reach’s old meta-formula as a base. We still don’t know the effects of the chemical so I would like to advise extreme caution on this mission. Nightwing out.” 

The transmission ended, Nightwing’s face fading and the screen disappearing. Once again, the team was left to their own devices. The flight to their destination was taking longer than anticipated. 

“Fantastic, we’re all doomed then!” Tara stated throwing her hands into the air – she was very much like her brother. 

“Um if you haven’t noticed my dad is literally Zeus, Forager is an alien, and Jaime has a scarab attached to his spine that gives him powers. The only ones that should be extra careful are you and Halo,” Cassie retorted. 

She was more bite than bark today, mostly because of her and Tim’s rocky relationship. Jaime was quick to see Tara stand, hands balling into tight fists, so he stood up and walked to the middle of the ship between the two of them. 

“How about we all just save our anger for the mission? Knowing our track record, I doubt this will stay covert.” he said, catering to the two-fuming people in the ship. Cassie was looking for a fight and Tara was just about ready to give her one. 

“We have arrived.” Forager interrupted. 

Just like Jaime had previously stated in the bioship the covert part of the mission was non-existent. It was another ambush, just like the one that got Bart shot. This one felt different, he could feel it in his bones. The thugs were using Apokaliptan weapons, weapons that could actually damage his armour. They split up and scattered in the nearby forest. He was flying as fast as he could through the trees, he stayed away from the top to avoid being spotted. _“We can take them Jaime Reyes; fleeing is a sign of cowardice!”_ Khaji Da yelled loudly. 

“Oh Dios mío they are using Apokaliptan weapons, y’know the ones that aren’t compatible and can do actual damage!” He retorted. 

It was almost poetic that he was then shot out of the sky. He seemed almost like a falling bird as he headed face first to the ground. The red beam tore through his armours back, leaving a nasty red burn on the teens back. Jaime went hurdling through the trees, snapping large branches and shaking entire tree trunks as he fell through. He hit the ground hard, body tumbling a few meters before a tree trunk stopped him. Jaime blinked in and out of consciousness. He faintly saw a tall slim figure amongst the trees with a rather large gun in their hands, the faint red glow suggested that it was Apokaliptan. When he opened his eyes again the figure was above him with the weapon pointed down to his head, their other hand was at their ear as they spoke quietly. 

“What of the others?” The figure, voice distorted, asked. 

Silence and then they nodded. 

He heard the weapon powering up again as he squeezed his eyes closed. Jaime didn’t know if he was dying or going unconscious because the world around him felt fuzzy again. It was like millions of tiny pins were pricking his entire body. The figure stood above him and stared down whilst waiting for a reply back from their comrades. They used the tip of the weapon to push his face to the side, he was unconscious. The figure finally received a message back and hummed to them self. 

“I squished one bug and the,” they looked at his back, “- the scarab is out of commission. Permission to kill father?” 

They cursed under their breath from the reply, “If I can’t take care of you then nature surely will, bug,” The figure pulled the charged weapon away from Jaime’s head and huffed as they turned and headed back into the forest. 

For once the scarab was silent. It took hours for the team to locate Jaime. When they finally found him, he was still unconscious and covered in blood seeping from the wound on his back. Cassie landed, her feet heavy and shaking the ground, and ran over to her friend. The adults followed her, Artemis pulling her away when she heard the girl scream. Artemis placed her hands on the girl’s shoulders and turned her around so her back was to the scene. Cassie was pretty banged up and so was Violet when Forager finally got to them with the bioship. If it weren’t for her invulnerability and Violet’s ability to regenerate, they probably would have suffered the same fate. 

“I – I was so mean on the way here and…is he dead? He can’t be dead,” Cassie was borderline hyperventilating now. 

Artemis looked past her at M’gann who was kneeled next to Jaime, her eyes glowing green and her hand gently touching his head. She could tell that the Martian was trying to keep her composure in front of Cassie. She looked back to Cassie who was shaking like a leaf under her hands. 

“Cassie look at me, he’s not going to die,” Artemis said; however, her tone didn’t sound like she was too sure. M’gann stood up, eyes still glowing green as she raised her hand and gently levitated the bloodied teen from the ground. “Call ahead to the Tower to get the medical bay prepped,” M’gann said as she flew up with Jaime to the bioship. 

On the ride back to the WatchTower Artemis sat with Cassie consoling the poor girl who thought she was an absolute demon for being so cold to Jaime before the mission. The blonde found herself falling into a motherly role more easily than she would’ve liked. In between smoothing the girl’s unruly blonde hair down and hushing her she glanced over towards Jaime who was being tended to by M’gann psychically while Connor controlled the ship. She had the feeling that what happened here today was connected to the incident with Bart. 


	5. Whispers Behind Infirmary Doors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A meeting is held with the League discussing the events that went down on the last covert ops mission. Bart finds out Jaime's been severely injured, and Zatanna and Artemis share select secrets as whispers behind closed doors.

The team’s adults called for a meeting involving members within and outside of the Justice League. Dick led the discussion, pacing up and down in between the table setup and referring back to the blacked-out figure on a screen behind him. Artemis and a few others knew that it was Barbara who was working behind the scenes with Dick. Her voice was slightly distorted, just enough for the other attendees to not recognize that it was her.

“As you all may be aware of yesterday at 11:39 pm a covert team consisting of Blue Beetle, Tara, Wondergirl, Halo, and Forager were ambushed by an unknown group wielding Apokaliptan weapons. What some of you may not know was that the team, more importantly Blue Beetle and Tara, sustained injuries, Blue Beetle’s being the more fatal of the two,” Dick explained. 

There was a murmur among the crowd once he said that. Artemis leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. Any discussion about members of the team being injured to such an extent always made her uncomfortable. She hadn’t told Bart yet and was procrastinating on doing so. 

“I promise you that Blue Beetle is recovering. Zatanna has been working alongside Doctor Fate to speed up the healing process,” Dick assured them. The way he originally worded it made the group think that the kid had died. 

_“Kid Flash B23,”_ the robotic voice announced throughout the tower. 

_“Red Arrow 21,”_ it announced a second time. 

Dick looked to Artemis who then stood and excused herself from the meeting. She ran through the tower searching for the two of them and eventually followed the sound of Bart’s loud and frustrated voice. Will was blocking Bart from getting past him and the teen was threatening to hit Will over the head with one of his crutches. 

“Woah woah woah what the hell are you doing here?” Artemis yelled placing her hands on her hips, “And who is watching Lian?” she continued just as loudly. 

“Your mother, thankfully.” Will answered, his disapproving gaze directed at Bart. 

She knew that not telling the kid would bite her in the ass, but she didn’t realize it would be this soon. “I want to see him,” Bart said, teeth gritted. Artemis crossed her arms and stood next to Will with her shoulders squared. By now the two of them had perfected the angry and disapproving parent stance. 

“Bart you’re injured and from the way you’re shaking, in pain. Jaime won’t be going anywhere and when you’re better you can come back and see him,” Artemis explained pointing out the way his arms were shaking. The teens eyes were suddenly watery, he turned his head and looked away from them. 

“I get that this is a lot for you, but it isn’t for me. You guys all think I’m some stupid kid who fell out of a time machine, you forget that the future I came from was completely moded,” he looked at them again, his face was flushed red and tears threatened to fall from his eyes. 

Bart never really went into depth about the future he came from. He shared little tid bits of information, but no one ever really got the full picture. Artemis recalled seeing the scars covering his torso a while ago when they all went to the beach, Wally was still around then. 

“How about we head back home and Lian and I will cook you up something warm and then you can turn in early for bed?” Will propositioned. 

“Artemis please, just let me see him,” 

The young woman stood there and stared at him. He had this pitiful look in his glistening eyes that made her sigh in defeat. “I take you, you look, then you head home. Are we clear?” she said sternly. 

“Yes, clear,” He repeated, a small smile returning to his face. 

Artemis walked slowly alongside him, matching his steady pace. She could see how irritated he was with the crutches already by the way he cursed quietly to himself whenever he had to slow down a tad to catch his breath. 

“Who told you?” she asked as they walked slowly down the corridor. The walls were lined with thick glass windows that looked out into space. Normally Bart would be dazzled by the grand view but at the moment he was too set on seeing if Jaime was okay. 

“Gar. I do have other friends you know,” he said rolling his eyes. The archer shoved her hands into her jean pockets and continued walking with him to the medical bay. It was a little way away from the Zeta-tubes which tuckered Bart out quite a bit. 

“You know Bart, if you ever want to talk about anything I’m always here to listen,” she said as they finally reached the medical bay. 

The doors glided open and the two of them entered. Tara was in there as well in a bed across the room from Jaime’s. The curtains were down, and she was surrounded by Violet, whom was laughing at something she said, and Forager who was eating an apple he brought with him from M’gann and Connor’s. They stopped at Tara’s bed first. 

“How’s it going, feeling any better?” she asked. 

“As good as one can be after being stabbed,” Tara grumbled. 

She held up her arm to reveal the slightly reddened bandage wrapped around her side. The wound wasn’t too deep and luckily it hit her side and no vital organs. Nurses requested for her to be kept overnight for observation, she’d be heading home later on today. 

“Your friend, I so sorry,” Violet said, gaze sympathetic towards Bart. The speedster flashed a small smile, forced, but at least he had the decency to smile. 

“Rest up okay?” Artemis said as she and Bart headed to the other side of the room. Jaime’s bed was curtained off, a faint glow coming from inside. 

She pulled the curtains aside slightly and the two of them stepped inside before she let the hanging fabric fall back into place. Zatanna and Doctor Fate were working side by side quietly. Artemis looked at Bart, nervous for what the boy’s expression might be. His face was blank as well as his gaze. 

“How,” Artemis paused and lowered her voice, “how is he?” she whispered. 

“He’s healing, slowly, but he’s healing. Fate’s keeping him under while I get the worst of it fixed up,” Zatanna explained. 

“And the scarab?” Bart asked, voice quiet. 

“It’s damaged, badly. I sense it’s power, weak, but it’s there.” 

Bart nodded, his lips forming a thin line. All of a sudden, he looked so exhausted as if he was hiding it all away until now. Jaime was lying on his stomach, head turned to the side and a nasal cannula feeding him oxygen through his nose. There was a line from the midpoint of his back going straight up to the damaged scarab that was burned and blistered. 

“I thought his armour was nearly indestructible,” Artemis commented. She had only seen the armour fail the kid once and that was when he was fighting Black Beetle back during the invasion. But that was so long ago now. Sometimes it was easy to forget just how vulnerable they were and that they weren’t all indestructible. 

“The armour is easy to damage through the use of magic and some incompatible weapons with the scarab’s system such as weapons from Apokalips,” Bart answered swiftly. 

He carefully walked up to his friend’s bedside and stared down at him; his gaze soft. There were a few cuts and bruises on his face but besides that he was the same Jaime. Artemis noticed how Bart reach out and press the palm of his hand against the side of his friend’s face. It was almost as if he knew she was watching because his head turned and he briefly locked eyes with her. He snatched his hand away as if he had been burnt, face flushing a bright shade of red. 

“He has a fever,” He said quietly. 

“Hey Artemis, can I speak to you outside for a moment?” Zatanna asked motioning with her head towards the curtains. 

The blonde nodded and the two of them stepped out. She followed her dark-haired friend out of the medical bay and into the empty corridor. “Sorry, I just didn’t want to freak out Bart. I can’t make the meeting for obvious reasons so what are they discussing?” Zatanna asked, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall. 

Artemis sighed, shoving her hands deep into her jean pockets. She briefly glanced back into the medical bay where she could see Forager and Violet still huddled around Tara. “Dick was giving them a rundown on the incident at the covert op mission last night. Babs and I were texting earlier though, and she made a connection.” 

“Connection?”

Artemis looked around before lowering her voice, “The base of the chemical Bart was effected with is from that Reach drink.” 

“Well it can’t be - the Reach is gone; the Lanterns protect this planetary district. It also doesn’t make sense because –”

“Zee, that’s not the point. What I’m trying to get at is that this thing is mutated. Babs can’t match it with anything else in her database. This stuff is dangerous, I mean, if it can completely disable Bart’s abilities then who’s to say they can’t hit the Leaguers with it?” 

Just then the door opened, Tara, Violet, and Forager exited the medical bay. Artemis turned to the three of them and gave them a half smile. “Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked Tara one last time. She waved her hand at her and rolled her eyes. The Princess of Markovia was ever so sassy. 

“I would worry about the Beetle; he was hit worse than the rest of us,” she said glancing briefly into the bay at the curtained off bed. 

“I will make sure she rests Artemis!” Violet said with a grin. 

The two women watched the three carefully until they were out of sight and out of earshot. Zatanna grabbed the blonde by her shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. 

“How is Bart, really?” she asked, eyes soft with a hint of pity lingering within. Everyone had been asking her lately about him, mostly out of worry. The speedster was very stubborn, she assumed that it ran in the family. 

“He’s uh,” she sighed, “he hates it and he’s lonely. I’ve tried to get him to go out with us, but he won’t budge, keeps saying ‘I’m crash, it’s all good’. This is actually the first time he’s left the house since he came to stay with us,” she explained. 

The door began to slide open and as if on cue Zatanna quickly muttered a spell in the middle of Artemis’s spiel. _“tcejbus eht egnahc,”_ she muttered. Artemis immediately went to speaking about what she had been doing that day. It was something she was thinking about earlier in the back of her mind. Bart appeared in the doorway to the medical bay and gave Zatanna a tight smile. 

“Uh that Fate guy said he needs you,” he said scratching the back of his head. The magician nodded and looked at Artemis whose gaze screamed _thank you._

“Then I will see you two later. _traB elims.”_ she said, the speedster immediately breaking out into a smile as she walked past. 

Once the doors closed behind Zatanna and Bart made sure she was back inside the curtained off area he spoke. 

“Will’s probably waiting, wouldn’t want him to freak again,” he said, voice low and dull. Artemis opened her mouth as if to say something, but no words came out. Instead she escorted him back to the zeta-tubes where Will was pacing back and forth. When he saw the two of them his impatient face melted away into a much more relieved one. They exchanged a few words, Bart staying silent, before she watched the two leave. After that she headed back to the meeting room, since it after all was mandatory for her to attend.


	6. Birdies Broken Wings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Robin's wings are prone to snapping, especially when they've strayed too far from the cave alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The art for this chapter is provided by the wonderful and amazing artist @dlanorart on Tumblr!

“As of now all of you are here by suspended from the team and hero work,” Dick announced.

There were gasps and heavy sighs that came from the crowd of teenagers in front of him. Garfield was the first to pipe up, heavily disagreeing with the new rules. 

“But most of us are not part of the team anymore, we’re the outsiders, remember?” he said crossing his arms, eyebrow arched high as if to challenge the grumpy vigilante in front of him. Dick had had a long night, again. He’s been in between his day job as a police officer, keeping the streets of Blüdhaven safe at night, working with Bats, and trying to wrap his head around this whole attack on the team thing simultaneously. 

The Outsiders had been their own public group for a little over a year now. Dick was still debating whether that was ever a good idea or not. He raised his hand pointing, mouth forming a thin line. Cassie reached out and placed a hand on Garfield’s shoulder, she frowned and shook her head at her friend disapprovingly. 

“We’re doing this for your safety, **all** of your safety,” Dick finally answered after taking a deep breath. These past few weeks had been wearing him down mentally, he yearned for a break that he knew he would never get. He looked to his side at M’gann, Connor, and Artemis. They all looked just as drained as he did. 

“Man, this is such bullshit! You’re still treating us like kids, I mean you’ve seen what we can do without you guys!” Garfield exploded. 

“Garfield that’s enough!” M’gann yelled, amber eyes narrowed at her younger brother. 

“No, not this time. You all are sheltering us from something we don’t even know about! It’s not about our safety, it’s about keeping your consciences clear knowing that you’ve locked us up once again,” he spat. 

Dick sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose; he had a headache. He wondered if he was this angsty when he was sixteen. M’gann was less than pleased by now by the teens behaviour. The two began bickering, M’gann and Garfield yelling back and forth about their idea of ‘safety’. Dick glanced between the two of them, their voices making his headache even worse than it already was. He opened and closed his hands repeatedly, stretching his fingers out before balling them back up into a fist. His patience was wearing extremely thin. The rest of the kids all seemed tired by now of this as well. 

“Fine, FINE! You want answers then have them, we don’t know why the hell this is happening and until we do the only logical solution is to temporarily suspend you from the field,” Dick yelled, his voice scaring everyone to a silence. 

It was rare for him to snap like this. Yes, Dick Grayson was a tad intimidating but he was mostly fun loving and very patient, so his sudden explosion caught everyone off-guard. 

“Whatever,” Garfield hissed, turning and heading to the zeta-tube. Just as M’gann was about to fly after him Dick reached out and grabbed her by the shoulder, pulling her to the ground. 

“He’ll be alright,” he then turned to the rest, “look, I know right now this doesn’t seem fair but believe me it’s better than being severely injured or even killed by whoever is doing this.” 

There was a pause. 

“I understand, but what if someone is in danger and we’re closer than anyone else? We can’t not help them,” Cassie asked. 

“Inform a League member or any one of us, doesn’t matter the time, and tell us your location so we can send someone over,” Dick answered after much thought. 

They were all dismissed after that. Most lingered in the WatchTower, heading to the medical bay to visit Jaime who was now in recovery. He made a note to go visit the kid later, he needed to ask him some questions about that night of the covert op mission. 

“Everything alright in there?” Artemis asked lightly tapping the side of his head. Dick rolled his eyes at her antics and turned to face her. There were dark circles around her eyes, her hair was in a tangled bun, and her clothes were the same she wore to yesterday’s meeting. “I’m as asterous as you are.” he responded dully. 

“So, not great,” she said with a tight smile. 

“Wanna get a coffee?” he asked. 

“I’ve got time to spare.” 

They took the zeta-tube to Blüdhaven. It was the middle of the afternoon; the air was frigid, and the sky was grey. There was some snow on the ground that had long turned to brown slush that covered both the roads and the sidewalks. Artemis walked alongside him running her hands up and down her arms in an effort to keep warm. 

“I definitely don’t miss this gotham-esque atmosphere,” she muttered as they walked down the busy street. Dick laughed as they rounded the corner and stopped at a coffee shop. He pulled the door open and stepped aside for her to go inside. 

The coffee shop was fairly busy, most of the tables were already occupied by people as they either chattered to one another or sat on their devices to use the free wifi. “I’ll get the drinks; you scout for a decent table.” 

Artemis nodded and broke off from their partnership in search of a table that was semi-clean. Once he grabbed their coffees, he found her sitting near the front at a table pressed up against the window of the shop. He slid the cup over to her as he sat down, she caught it and brought the cup to her lips taking a long-needed sip. 

“Oh, I so needed that,” she hummed against the rim of the cup. 

He took a sip, while doing this he opened a file on his phone and slid it across the table to her. Artemis took his phone, squinting her eyes as she scrolled down. 

“Babs managed to pull up the surveillance footage of the street the day Bart was shot. The camera was destroyed not long after they were ambushed but Tim found something very interesting,” he explained as she reviewed the quick reel of footage on his phone. Her eyes focused on the blur that was Bart who had run past the camera, suddenly the screen zoomed in on a small figure on top of a distant building. 

The feed then blackened when the camera was destroyed. 

Artemis sat back in her chair and took another long sip of her coffee. The phone was slid back across to the table to Dick who then slid it back into his jacket pocket. 

“How many marksmen do we know that can shoot at perfect precision from such a far distance?” Artemis asked, sarcasm laced with her words. 

“Deathstroke is still M.I.A and Deadshot was supposedly in his cell at Belle Reve at the time. Those two are our best bets. What I don’t get is why would either of them work alongside, or even use Apokaliptan weapons?” 

“Could’ve been separate hits, coincidences happen, however, even I think that it’s highly unlikely this is just a coincidence.” 

Dick hummed and took another sip of his coffee. He and Barbara had spent last night over the comms while he was patrolling picking each other’s brains on this. His eyes watched the way Artemis’ nails scraped at the side of the cup and how she toyed with the corner of her mouth between her teeth. She wasn’t telling him something. 

“Okay spill, what aren’t you telling me?” he asked. The blonde batted her grey eyes at him, her hand halting to tighten ever so slightly around the coffee cup. After a moment of internal debate, at least he guessed that’s what was happening, she deflated. 

“Zee and I were talking about this the other day in the library. I agree on the marksman thing, someone who is especially skilled in that craft could hit a target that far. But it still doesn’t sit right, I mean this had to be planned.” 

“Alright I’ll bite, but first, let me get some more coffee.” 

They were there for hours hurling scenarios and thoughts between each other. The two consumed way more than the daily amount of caffeine should be in those few hours. The sun had dipped low below the horizon giving the sky a musty reddish-brown look to it. A scratchy transmission suddenly came through the earpiece in his ear. 

_“Dick I – I screwed up. I need help,”_ Tim’s voice said clear as day. His eyes widened and he abruptly stood up from the table, palms flat against the cool wood surface. Artemis stood just as quickly as he did, “Dick what’s wrong?” she asked eyeing him warily. 

The both of them were super alert from the caffeine, slightly jittery at the least. He raised his hand to the earpiece, “Where are you?” he asked, the words barely escaping his mouth. 

This was what he worried about. As soon as Artemis heard those three words, she knew something was wrong. 

_“Signal…sent out a signal,”_ Tim respond, his voice heavy and breathy. Dick’s phone buzzed and he took it out and looked at a screen, a text from Barbara. It was Tim’s coordinates. He grabbed his coat that he had previously hung on the back of his chair and threw it on. 

“I’m not close by, I’m calling Bruce,” he said into the earpiece. 

_“No! Dick don’t…he said I couldn’t do this and I – I was stupid, wanted to prove him wrong.”_

Artemis followed him out of the shop, the two running down the street together. “Who’s hurt?” she asked as they turned down a nearby alleyway and headed to the disguised zeta-tube. 

“Tim,” he answered all too quickly. 

What was his brother thinking? Then again, he knew exactly what he was thinking. Dick remembered the days where he pulled some stupid reckless moves in order to prove Bruce wrong. He left Artemis at the WatchTower for damage control and to also inform M’gann, Connor, and Kaldur about what was happening. Dick arrived in Gotham dressed in his stealth suit. Babs was at home guiding him through the use of the eye contact tech she created awhile back. 

**ORACLE:** _He’s nearby._

**ORACLE:** _…Be careful, whoever got to Tim could still be around._

Bruce was informed immediately despite Tim’s request not to tell him. The coordinates led Dick to an underground parking garage. It was rundown and grimy, the lights flickering heavily as if the power was seconds from going out. He was on the South side of Gotham; crime was significantly worse here than on the North side. His eyes caught sight of some splotches of blood on the concrete. The garage extended down two more floors; he silently followed the trail of blood down further. 

**ORACLE:** _Monitoring surveillance outside._

He nodded and continued through the garage with his escrima sticks at the ready. The trail of blood suddenly began getting stronger and stronger the further he walked. It led him to the back corner nearby an old pickup truck. 

“Robin?” he asked, voice barely above a whisper. The only response was a quiet whimper. Dick drew in a deep breath and tucked the two sticks into the sheaths on his back. 

**ORACLE:** _Bats is on his way._

Dick walked around the truck to the back and knelt down in front of the seventeen-year-old who was tucked between the bumper and the wall. Tim was trembling, hands pressed to his abdomen. Blood coated his gloves as the majority of his uniform. It seemed like he had been like this for awhile now. The last time Dick saw his brother this fragile was when he first became Robin and Two Face got a couple hits in on him while he was caught off-guard. 

“What the hell happened?” Dick hissed as he reached forwards and pulled the hood down from Tim’s head. His brother was sweaty, hair matted to his forehead and skin unusually pale. 

“Walking…patrol.” Tim huffed in between breaths. 

Dick suddenly lurched forward and pressed his hand over top of the teens mouth to prevent him from further speaking. He reached back with his other hand and pulled the escrima sticks from the sheaths on his back. There was a heavy set of footsteps that echoed off the concrete walls of the garage as the person descended the lot. Slowly Dick stood, motioning with his hand for Tim to stay put, before slipping past the cars and into the open space. 

The tall slender man stepped into the open, his familiar orange and black mask made Dick grit his teeth. 

“Deathstroke,” he spat as if the name alone was of pure venom. Over the past few years the man had been making quite the name for himself, he and Dick had gone toe to toe plenty of times before. Slade had a sniper rifle slung over his shoulder which he promptly dropped to the floor next to him and proceeded to unsheathe the sword at his side. 

“Nightwing, what a pleasure,” Slade said sourly. Dick widened his stance and spun one of the escrima sticks around preparing for the fight to come. 

Slade glared at him, “Truly I’m only here for Robin.” 

“Yeah, so not gonna happen. Guess we’ll just have to dance instead.” 

“Then by all means, let us dance.” 

Slade was the first to swing, bringing the blade down onto the concrete where Dick once stood. Dick dodged another strike by flipping over, pushing Slade forwards as he flipped over him. The villain grumbled and spun around quickly with a pistol in hand. The bullet flew through the air and embedded themselves into the concrete wall as Dick ran and vaulted over a nearby car. On the way over a bullet snagged his side, just grazing the skin of his waist. He hissed and crouched behind the car, hand coming to his side to try and calm the searing flesh wound. 

“I never pegged you for a guy to do others dirty work!” he shouted from behind the car. 

Another wave of bullets slammed into the car, shattering the back windshield in response to his taunt. The glass sprinkled down into his hair and on the ground around him. 

“Then again the Light did use you as their certified trash man left to pick up the garbage they left behind!” Dick continued. 

The familiar clicking and the feeling of the barrel of a gun being pressed against the back of his head should have spooked him more than it did. “You never shut up Nightwing, that’s always been your greatest downfall,” Slade growled. 

Dick smirked, lightly tapping the ends of the escrima sticks together in front of him. An electrical spark ignited, and he quickly jabbed them back into the villain’s foot and calf. It was enough for Dick to jump up and swing around landing a right hook to the older man’s jaw and a kick to his stomach. Slade stumbled back and Dick ran up to him and punched him in the nose knocking him back into the open. 

“You know, I’d agree with you except my talkative nature is what has people like you distracted,” Dick quipped with a smirk as he kicks towards the man’s face. 

His foot was stopped by a hand that twisted his leg around followed by a fist that knocked him in the nose. Dick raised his arm to block the next punch, he scrunched his nose feeling the blood begin to seep out. Slade cracked his knuckles and rolled his head, he momentarily glanced to the side before smirking. 

**ORACLE:** _Earpiece. He’s communicating with someone._

Dick prepared for the next attack when Slade pulled out explosive pellets and threw them his way. He quickly dove out of the way, rolling behind another car as the garage erupted in a minor explosion. A cough escaped his lips, he blocked the rush of smoke with his arm. Slade was just a tall figure in the smoke, he lingered for a moment longer. 

“Why go for the big fish when you can go for their children Nightwing?” Slade asked aloud before vanishing. The parking garage was quickly filling with smoke from the explosion, so he ran back over to Tim who was still hidden. 

Without warning he pulled him to his feet, Tim’s arm was situated around his shoulder while Dick’s arm wrapped around his waist dragging him along. 

“Listen to me, you are not dying on me Robin. Not until I say you can,” Dick said stubbornly as he helped his brother up the first level of the parking garage. The smoke wasn’t as bad as it was below, but they still had two more floors before reaching ground level. “I’m sorry…didn’t listen to you,” Tim muttered; his words slightly slurred. 

“Cassie I-” he coughed, blood dribbling from his mouth. 

“Whatever you need to tell her you tell her yourself. We’re almost there.” 

They reached the last slope that led up to the ground level of the garage. Tim’s legs shook and then he suddenly collapsed. 

“Don’t do this to me, not today, not now,” Dick whispered picking him up in his arms. 

“Where the hell is he?” he yelled aloud. 

**ORACLE:** _Two streets away, he’s coming as fast as he can._

“It’s not fast enough!” he screamed. 

Had Tim really become this heavy? Then again, the last time Dick had carried him was when he was much smaller. He ran up the slope and through the parking garage towards the exit. The smoke was slowly making its way up and out of the building alarming nearby residents. He ran out of the cloud of black smoke coughing; he fell to his knees. With his free hand he checked for a pulse and promptly froze. 

“Not again, not again.” He muttered while lying his brother on his back and proceeding to give chest compressions. 

**ORACLE:** _Ambulance on its way, one minute out._

Dick shook his head and continued with the compressions. He couldn’t have this happen to him again, not again. He already lost Jason he couldn’t lose Tim too. Not again. The loud roaring and heat from an engine hit him as the Batmobile hastily pulled to the curb just as the ambulance and fire engines arrived. Bruce pulled him away, yanking him back by his shoulder as the medical technicians took over. The only thing he felt was his own heart beating and the heat washing over him from the burning parking garage.


	7. A Little Bit of Rain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Doom and gloom rains down on the Outsiders after hearing of Tim. Bart's locked away in his room as usual until a certain teleporting meta-human pays him a visit.

Cassie was crying all day long. Bart could hear her through the walls despite sitting in his own room. He wasn’t supposed to be here, but Artemis had left to go and find Dick who had disappeared since last night. Joan died a year back, Jay not long after so the only logical place for him left was to move into Garfield’s penthouse that he had turned into their team’s base. With some help, mostly from Cassie and Perdita, his room felt homey. Bart was grateful for Artemis and Will’s hospitality, but they were always watching him, a little too much for his liking. He sat on his bed, leg propped up on a pillow, and glared at the white cast that had since been scribbled on.

There was a flash of light to his left and suddenly there was a person standing in his room. 

“Buenas tardes,” Eduardo said with a warm smile. Bart mumbled something along the lines of a ‘hello’ as he continued to stubbornly glare at his cast. Not having speed wasn’t the problem for him. It was the fact that he couldn’t even walk without crutches, he felt so helpless. This feeling in the pit of his stomach was dark and it reminded him of the past future before he changed it. Ed grabbed the nearby desk chair and spun is around sitting on it backwards. He leaned against the back of the chair and looked towards the wall when he heard another loud sob coming from Cassie’s room. 

Bart uncrossed his arms and sighed. “I heard what happened to Robin. How long has she been like this?” Ed asked, still staring at the wall. 

“A few hours. Man, why does everything have to be so moded?” Bart said throwing his hands into the air. 

“The world isn’t all perros cachorros and dulces my friend,” Ed said looking defeated. 

Lately the two of them had been growing close. This was mostly due to Jaime practically fawning over Traci and completely forgetting that he had actual friends. Bart had nothing against Traci, she was awesome and always got him chicken whizzies when he wanted them. He just learned that Jaime needed to figure out how to better manage his time. Or maybe he was just outgrowing their friendship, but Bart didn’t really want to think about that at the moment. 

“Is this what you do all day, mope around and sit in bed?” Ed asked spinning around in the chair and standing up. 

The dark-haired teen walked around his room looking at various knick-knacks that Bart had collected over time. 

“How’s the center?” Bart asked, now toying with his fingers. He stole a glance over to Ed who had a cracked pair of red goggles in his hands. The speedsters stomach flipped at the sight of it. 

“It’s an old pair of Wally’s. Artemis gave them to me the other day, she said I would get better use out of them then her,” he said softly. Ed looked back at him and smiled ever so slightly before gently placing the goggles back onto the shelf they were previously on. 

There was another crackle of light and suddenly Ed was sitting opposite of him on the bed. Bart turned his head and directed his gaze over to his friend. “The center’s fine, thriving actually. More and more meta-teens are coming in every day to seek help or even counsel. You should stop by more, they miss you,” Ed said with a smile. 

“Do they miss me, or is it just you that misses me?” Bart retorted with a smirk. “Well I wouldn’t be opposed to you showing up more often,” Ed replied, the corner of his mouth drawing up into a small smile. There was a fluttering in his stomach that made him feel warm on the inside. He had this feeling before, one specific person always made it happen, but he didn’t think Ed would be the second person to cause such a warm and fuzzy reaction. 

The subject changed after that. They talked about a bunch of different things like school, the center, living with Artemis and Will, being benched from the team, his leg breaking, Tim, and then Jaime. 

“How is he anyways?” Ed asked. He was lying on his stomach now across the bed with his face shoved into one of Bart’s comic books. 

“The scarab was damaged in the fight and it’s slowly repairing itself. Zatanna and Doctor Fate were trying to heal his back as best as they could but there’s gonna be scarring. I haven’t really seen him lately. I mean I did go last night but he was busy with Traci, so I didn’t go in,” he explained. 

Bart was lying on his back staring up at the ceiling with one arm folded under his head. The two were side by side, unbothered by the fact that their sides were snuggly pressed against each other. 

“Scarring comes with the job, right? I mean I’ve got a pretty cool one here.” Ed said putting the comic book down and rolling up his sleeve. There was a long-jagged scar the width of his bicep, slightly lighter in tone than his tan complexion. “I also got a few on the back of my neck and my back from when the Reach were experimenting on us. I’m glad those bichos malvados are gone.” 

The speedster nodded and absentmindedly reached out and traced the long-jagged scar with his finger. There was a silence between the two of them as Ed watched the auburn-haired teen stare at him entranced. A knock at the door broke the silence, Eduardo was quick to teleport to the door. He pushed his sleeve back down and opened the door for M’gann. She looked surprised, “Eduardo, I didn’t know you were here.” 

“I’m just keeping Bart company,” he said stepping aside and letting her into the room. 

Bart pushed himself up in his bed and flashed a pearly white smile at the martian. Her eyes were slightly bloodshot and watery, she had been crying. 

“I’m just doing the rounds and checking on everyone, how are you doing Bart?” she asked, her voice mildly stuffy. M’gann treated them all like her children which was endearing at times and annoying during others. He slapped his hands down on his thighs and smiled at her. 

“Pretty crash, how about you?” he asked. 

“Are you sure you’re okay? Do you need to talk?” 

“Believe me, I’ve already tried to get him to talk. He’s stubborn.” 

There was an awkward air that filled the room once Eduardo said that. M’gann stared down at Bart, a frown tugging at her lips. She always offered to talk to Bart if he ever needed someone to speak to, but he always declined the offer. He just didn’t feel like burdening everyone with his messed-up life. M’gann reached out and gently squeezed his shoulder before giving him a small smile. 

“If you want anything you know where to find me,” she said, her hand leaving his shoulder, “You too Eduardo.” she continued on her way out of the room, shutting the door behind her. Eduardo started patting the pockets of his jeans down frantically before shooting a sheepish look over to his friend. 

“One moment.” he said, a flash of light and he was gone. 

Bart rolled his eyes; Ed did this a lot. While he was gone Bart stretched his arms out and maneuvered himself to the edge of the bed, his legs now hanging off the side. He reached for the comic book he was reading and continued where he left off for a few minutes before the flash of light appeared in front of him again. 

He glanced up from the book at his friend whose brown-eyed gaze was mischievous, “After much thought I realized that you, Bart Allen, are in need of some serious entertainment during this crisis. Lucky for you, I have two tickets to the very sci-fi film you’ve been wanting to see since it was announced,” Ed announced with a smirk before pulling the tickets out from behind his back. 

“What?!” Bart yelled shooting to his feet. 

As soon as he was on his feet, he began to fall forwards, lucky for him Ed was there to grab his shoulders and sit him back down on the bed. 

“Dude that’s so crash!” Bart was practically beaming at the sight of the tickets. He had been trying to convince Jaime to go with him before they were ambushed but Jaime always had lame excuses or Traci excuses. It was a bummer really. 

“Estupendo, I’ll pick you up from wherever you are on Saturday mi amigo,” Ed said with a smile that was almost as giddy as Bart’s. 

“Sounds crash,” he grinned. 

Eduardo nodded and suddenly there was a flash of light and he was gone. The speedster sat there for a few minutes with a grin glued to his face and this warm sensation spreading outwards from his stomach. He liked this feeling, whatever it was. Bart reached and grabbed his crutches, using them to stand and then heading for the door. The place was fairly quiet, he could see from the balcony that many of his friends were communing in the living room watching television together. He approached Cassie’s door, lingering in front of it for a moment listening to her sniffling coming from within. 

He knocked, “Cassie it’s uh, it’s Bart and I know what happened to Tim was pretty moded. If you could unlock your door, I guess that would be pretty crash because I don’t have my super speed to vibrate through the door so it’d be great if you could -” the lock clicked open. 

The door creaked open as he twisted the doorknob and pushed it slowly open. Her room was dimly lit, a lamp at her bedside table being the only source of light. She was sitting on the edge of her bed looking at her lap as she twisted her fingers nervously. Bart shut the door behind him and made his way over, propping the crutches against the side of her bed and then taking a seat next to her. He clasped his hands together and stared ahead at the collage of photos messily put together on the wall across from him. Dinah gave her a photography task a few months back to help Cassie with her lack of impatience, he guessed that she had become very fond of photography since then. 

He didn’t need to say anything. Bart simply sat next to her, reaching over and taking her hand in his. As soon as he grabbed her hand and squeezed it her head fell against his shoulder. She turned her head, her face pressed into the younger teens shoulder. This wasn’t the first time Bart had had someone sniffling and crying against him and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. He didn’t really cry anymore, at least not in front of the others. Cassie and Tim’s relationship has always been very on and off. Bart could tell by the way she spoke about him and looked at him that she was in love with Tim. 

Bart knew because it was the same way he looked at Jaime. 

Of course, he would never tell anyone that. Jaime was…something else. Bart would never tell anyone about his little crush, well it wasn’t little, out of fear that it would be used against him. Jaime would hate him surely. After all, he obviously didn’t like guys and Bart was younger than him, three years and he didn’t think Jaime would ever look at him the way Bart did. His shirt was becoming damp from her tears, he didn’t mind. 

“It’s my fault,” she whispered, “it’s my fault he was out there.” 

“What do you mean?” 

Cassie sat up and wiped her wet eyes with the back of her hand. He could see her face now. Her eyes were bloodshot and watery, strands of blonde hair falling messily in her face from her ponytail, lips chapped and quivering – all of the hope and fire in her eyes was gone. 

“We were arguing, I just want him to talk to me and tell me what’s wrong. It got out of hand and led to Nightwing telling us we were benched. He didn’t – he said he could handle himself and I told him, I said ‘Nightwing benched us for a reason, look what happened to Jaime – to Bart!’ and he just yelled about how he wasn’t a kid anymore. I was angry and I wasn’t thinking and I -” Cassie choked back a sob. 

“I told him that if he goes out, I hope he gets himself _killed.”_

She was sobbing again, tears rushing down her already red face and snot running from her nose. Bart frowned and let go of her hand, moving his hand to her back rubbing it soothingly. 

“I’m a monster.” She whimpered. When she said that Bart froze, his muscles locking and a cold chill running down his spine. It gave him goosebumps. He shook the uncomfortable feeling and quickly pulled her into a hug. 

“Don’t ever say that, you’re not a monster. People say things they don’t mean during fits of rage and it’s totally moded but it’s what happens. The only monsters out there are the ones that harm others for fun or because they can,” he whispered to her. 

Cassie’s arms wrapped around him and she nodded into his shoulder, sniffling again. Bart’s seen monsters before and he knows what such monsters are capable of. The last thing he wanted was for his friend to believe that she was one too. He pulled away from the hug, holding her at arm’s reach and gave her a small smile. 

“I should stop crying, everyone’s probably annoyed,” she said embarrassed. 

“Nah, the sun always shines the brightest after a little bit of rain.”


	8. It's Time to Grow Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Artemis finds herself falling into the role of worried best friend and concerned mother way too easily and far too often. Both Dick Grayson and Bart Allen did not help her situation.

The hard edges of an orange and black uniform were lit underneath the harsh light beaming down from the streetlamp above. Gotham Academy was empty for Christmas break, save for a few boarding students that couldn’t travel across the country for the two-week break. The sun was beginning to rise, orange beginning to grapple at the edge of darkness and pulling it down into the light. The pool house lock was hanging open, someone was inside. The orange and black figure quietly stepped inside and closed the door behind them.

The pool house was glowing a vibrant blue from the water being reflected against the walls. There was another person sitting on one of the lounge chairs staring blankly at the calmly moving water. No one would disturb them. The pool house was closed during the winter. 

“Your comms are down, and Barbara couldn’t contact you. I figured that if you weren’t in your regular hiding places you’d come back here to panic like the old days.” 

“Thanks, Arty, guess I need a new hiding place.” 

Dick gave his friend a wry smile although all the usual pep behind it was gone. His mask was on the seat beside him, the light from the pool reflecting in his blue eyes. Artemis sighed and removed her own mask and took a seat on the ground in front of him. She looked into the pool; water so clear she could see herself reflected against the surface. Her fingers dipped into the warm water, distorting the reflection of her face until it was just a mixture of colours in the ripples. 

“I always liked this hiding place, no one was ever here,” she said reminiscing back to the old days of her time in Gotham Academy. 

Back then she didn’t know that the Boy Wonder was the annoying rich kid in one grade below, he skipped one, that kept pestering her. As soon as she found out who he was he became a little less annoying and quickly one of her only friends at the school. They tended to come here after particularly hard days or missions and just sat in silence watching the way the reflection of the water danced along the wall. 

“When I first saw him squished between the back of the truck and the garage wall, I was shocked,” he said, breaking the silence. 

“Shocked how?” she asked. 

“Jason must’ve looked like that. Scared, alone, in pain. Except Tim had me when Jason didn’t, and I don’t know, it just reminded me,” he said, his eyes hollow. 

Artemis drew in a sharp breath at the mention of Jason. It was a long time ago now, even before her and Wally went into ‘retirement’. He wasn’t on the team very long, but she remembered him being the complete opposite of Dick. The kid was headstrong, cocky, over-defensive, but he was a great fighter. She knew he was a street kid the moment she first saw him and Black Canary train. Jason was only on the team for a few months before he died. 

“Maybe, you don’t know that though. He was a fighter; it was in his blood,” Artemis said quietly, her gaze still trained on the back wall watching the reflection dance against it. 

Their faces glowed from the water as well, an ethereal blue. She leaned back against her hands and looked back at her friend. 

“He got out of surgery an hour ago. They said he can be moved to the Tower’s medical bay in the morning,” she said softly. 

His eyes met hers, “He’s not going to the Tower. Bruce is taking him home.” 

Her mouth formed a thin line and she nodded. Artemis understood him clearly. It didn’t always look like it, but Batman cared for his kids, way more than anyone would ever realize. If Tim needed anything, he was sure to get it at home. Dick still seemed troubled, more so than usual. His stealth suit was covered in dried blood from when he carried Tim out of the parking garage. She reached out and placed her hand on his knee, noticing the way he jumped slightly from the contact. 

“Dick, you’re hurt,” she said noticing the wound at his side. 

“It’s not so bad, just a scratch,” he rationalized. 

They weren’t in the pool house very long. Artemis stood and dragged him out, popping the lock back into place on the door as they exited. 

“I know what you’re thinking, and you couldn’t have known he was going to go out. Sitting there in pain because you think you deserve it is not doing anyone any favours. It sure as hell isn’t helping him in the hospital right now and it won’t help you when you get a stupid ass infection,” she growled as she marched him up the staircase of a nearby safe house. Artemis had fallen into another one of her motherly spiels. She had come to terms by now that she was in fact a mother. 

Jade sure as hell wasn’t coming back, and with all the kids she’s been taking care of lately she found that the motherly roll suited her. There were a number of safe houses strewn across Gotham, some she has even used from time to time in the past. It wasn’t until a few minutes later when Dick was perched on top of the kitchen counter in track pants and Artemis was stood next to him meticulously sewing the wound at his side. 

“Ouch!” he hissed and glared down at her. Artemis stopped what she was doing and stood there with the needle in her hand, thread still attached to him, and glared just as hard. 

“Quit being a baby! How many times have I had to stitch you up over the years?” 

“Too many.” 

She returned her attention to the half stitched wound; fingers red from the blood. As she pushed the needle through the skin again, he twitched. His hands were balled into fists, knuckles bright white from how hard he was squeezing them. “So, how’s the home life?” he asked in an attempt to distract himself. 

Artemis shrugged, “Well I have Lian bouncing off the walls, Will in and out of the house twenty-four-seven for work, Tara pestering me with her school work, and Bart…” she trailed off. 

“Bart what?” 

Artemis stopped what she was doing and looked at him. Her eyebrows were drawn together, and a frown graced her lips. She sighed and quickly began the next stitch much to his dismay. 

“Ouch,” he looked to her and saw that there were tears in her grey eyes. It seemed that she was more troubled than he originally thought. 

“Okay, crying is not asterous, especially when you’re supposed to be stitching me up,” he said resting his hand on hers to stop her from doing the next stitch. She stood still, seemingly staring at nothing. It wasn’t finished but so far it was hospital grade. She used to stitch Wally up all the time despite his protests that he was a quick healer. 

She shook her head and snapped out of it. Dick’s hand was wrapped around her wrist, he was talking to her. “Sorry, what?” she asked, spaced out slightly still. 

“You know you don’t always have to be strong in front of me. I’ve seen you ugly cry before so nothing you do can affect me at this point, so spill before your head implodes.” 

She drew in a shaky breath, “I’m trying so hard and I don’t want to screw up. I made a promise to Wally, after he died, that I would watch over Bart. I didn’t realize how bad of a job I was doing until he was shot and left without his powers. He looks so sad all the time and I just want him to know that he can talk to me but whenever I try to get him to open up to me, he rejects me.” 

“I mean you have to remember that he is sixteen, he’s a moody teenager. Remember when BC tried to get you to open up? You wouldn’t give her the time of day.” 

Artemis cursed him internally, Dick was always right. Why did he have to be right? He let go of her wrist and reached behind him to grab a tissue which he then handed to her. 

“Now in your words, ‘quit being a baby’,” he said with a laugh before hissing and glaring at the wound on his side. The rest of the time stitching him up they spent reminiscing of the fun times they had on the team in their teen years. And they had oh so many. Artemis finished the last stitch and plastered a medical grade bandage to the area. 

“This is gonna hurt like a bitch to rip off later,” he grumbled while smoothing down the bandage’s sticky edges. 

“Yep,” she walked to the sink and smirked, “maybe you can ask Zatanna to magic it off since she used to do that oh so well with your clothes.” 

“Long time ago! Besides, I have Babs to do that to me now,” he said smugly.

The blonde made a puking noise to loudly let him know of her disgust. She definitely did not need that image in her brain yet there it was seared in forever. 

“Don’t act all disgusted now, you and Wally used to spread innuendos galore. How do you think our brains felt?” Dick retorted, his nose wrinkling as he tried to stifle his laughter. It’s been awhile since he’s had fun and laughed like this. Artemis turned around, towel in her hands as she dried the water from them. The serious expression returned to her face now and Dick knew that all the fun and games were over. 

“Babs said Deathstroke was the one who attacked Tim. I asked her an hour ago to cross-examine the ballistics of the bullet that hit Tim and the one that hit Bart.” 

“What did she say?” 

“They’re a match. Which places Slade as our shooter the night Bart was shot.” 

Dick shook his head, “but that doesn’t place him on the scene when Jaime was attacked. The attacker used Apokaliptan weapons, not Earth weapons such as the rifle Deathstroke’s been using.” 

Artemis crossed her arms and chewed the inside of her cheek. This whole attack on the team was perplexing for everyone. The kids hadn’t been personally attacked until now, especially since the Outsiders have been a public team for almost a year. They sat in thoughtful silence for what felt like years until Dick’s phone began to vibrate on the counter. He hopped off and grabbed it, staring down at the glowing screen that lit up his face a pale blue. 

“It’s Bruce, I uh have to go,” he said in which she responded to with a nod. 

He answered the phone, “Hi…yeah I know, Artemis patched me up…I’m fine…he is?...I’m on my way.” 

She grabbed her mask from the counter and fitted it back onto her face, folding the hand towel and placing it on the counter in its place. While he was on the phone, she slipped past him, her hand brushing against his shoulder as she headed for the window. The window squeaked as she slid it upwards. Before slipping out completely she spared a glance back at Dick who was still on the phone with Bruce. Then she ducked out onto the fire escape, leaving the window open for Dick to climb out of once he was done. 

The cool Gotham air brushed against her face as she zipped to the next building using the grappling hook on her crossbow. The nearest Zeta-tube was a few blocks away. It took her an hour until she arrived home, she dealt with a few muggings and a minor ATM robbery on the way to the Zeta in Gotham. As she walked up the driveway to her and Will’s home, a long winter jacket covering up the majority of her uniform, she noticed a figure at the side of the house. 

Her hand reached for the knife strapped to her thigh, her movements slow as she walked down the darkened side of the house. The figure was reaching for the guest room window, they seemed to be struggling. Her eyes darted to the crutches leaning against the side of the house, a long sigh escaping her lips. 

“Bart what the hell are you doing? I could’ve killed you!” she whisper-shouted as she flipped the knife in her hand and slid it back into its sheath at her thigh. The teen froze and whipped around, he hissed as he did and leaned down placing his hand on his leg where the cast was. 

Artemis marched him in through the front door before he could even get a word in edgewise. It was well past midnight and she was shocked that he was out this late. She herself had never had curfews or rules growing up but now with Lian and especially with Bart she knew how important rules were. 

“With everything that has happened, especially with Tim, do you really think sneaking around at night in the open with your current condition is a good idea?” she slipped her winter coat off and hung it on the coat rack. At the sound of her voice Will appeared in the doorway, eyebrow raised at her. 

The speedster stood there with his head down staring at the floor. He was still trying to get used to the time differences when it came from travelling from Hollywood to Star City and back. 

“You don’t understand,” he said quietly. 

“I don’t what?” Artemis asked, arms crossed. 

“You don’t understand, none of you do and that’s the problem! I can hear you all talking behind my back like I can’t function. You are all hovering over me as if getting shot in the leg is something new for me when it isn’t. This whole leg situation and not having my speed is nothing compared to the experiments the Reach used to do on me **_– nothing!”_** he shouted, his voice growing hoarse. 

It was rare as if uncommon for Bart to explode like this. Artemis was taken aback by his sudden outburst; his shouting was loud enough to wake Lian from down the hallway. 

“I got her.” Will said, disappearing back into the hallway to give the two some space. 

Artemis studied Bart’s face, he was beet red, eyes watery, and jaw clenched. The blonde reached out and just as he was about to try and escape her, she pulled him into a hug. It was quite unexpected, and she could tell from the way he stiffened in her hold. She rested her chin on top of his head and stared straight ahead at the wall. Lian’s crying was starting to quiet down so she assumed that Will was singing her one of the lullabies she enjoyed so much. 

Bart stood there allowing her to hug him for a while. She could feel the slight tremors he had; he was trying to keep from crying. Artemis remembered the days as a child where her whole body would shake whenever she tried to keep her emotions under lock and key after something particularly horrible her father would do whether it be a nasty comment or a slap to the face. She finally pulled away and held him at arm’s length, her hands squeezing his shoulders lightly. 

“I’m sorry, sometimes we all forget that you came from someplace terrible. You’re also incredibly mature for your age so I’ll cut you a deal. I will give you more space and you can help me – help us with what’s happening with these attacks. In exchange, all I ask is that you talk to if not me then someone because I know you believe you can keep all of this trauma and distress down pat but you just can’t. Believe me, I was just like you when I was sixteen and after talking to someone it made my issues less difficult to deal with.” 

“Who did you talk to?” 

“Wally, I talked to Wally.” 

He nodded and she finally released his shoulders. The tension in the air had cleared by now leaving the two of them emotionally tired out. Artemis was stressed out and it was clear that after the outburst that Bart was too. 

“Now head to bed, we’re meeting early tomorrow morning,” she said with her hands on her hips. 

“Wait you’re serious? You want my help?” he asked batting his eyes in disbelief. 

“Of course, I don’t go back on my promises,” she smirked. 

“That’s so crash!” he was grinning now. 

The two parted ways and headed into their respected rooms. As soon as the door closed behind Bart his shoulders sagged and he leaned his back against the door. He raised his hand and watched as it vibrated into a blur. He closed his hand into a fist and squeezed as hard as he could to get the uncontrollable motion to cease. It did after a minute, and he sighed. His eyes closed and he dropped his hand back to the crutch at his side. This has never happened to him before, his powers felt foreign which was a feeling that left him empty inside.


	9. Time Goes on Until It Doesn't

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's as simple as that, time continues for most while it suddenly ceases for others. Like snuffing out a single flame in a room full of burning candles.

They had all been benched for three weeks and it was still going strong. Christmas past and now it had moved onto New Year’s. The Outsider’s base had been all but depressing until Garfield decided to throw a rage of a party and invite all the people and celebrities he knew. The team was invited except for the adults, mostly out of spite on Gar’s part. The music was blaring, the smell of alcohol permeating the air, and colourful lights flashed throughout the condo. Bart was outside on the balcony in an attempt to escape the music that was so loud he couldn’t even hear himself think.

He turned with a sigh and leaned back against the railing. Garfield was inside, he could see him dancing with Perdita. The two were holding onto each other and giggling like a bunch of school children. He felt his hand buzzing and looked down to see it moving as a blur once again. It was getting increasingly more difficult to control and he had yet to tell anyone about his uncontrollable bursts of speed he’s been getting. Just this morning he woke up and before he could process it, he was across the room smashed into the dresser and had the dresser not been there he surely would have gone through the wall. 

The doors to the balcony slid open and Bart quickly hid his hand behind his back, balling it into a fist and trying to get it under control. It was Ed and his eyes softened at the sight of the dark-haired boy. They hadn’t seen each other since they went to the movies together and god Bart forgot how Ed made him feel whenever he saw him. It was a mixture of elation and wanting to puke, but in a good way. 

“I see you’ve lost the cast,” Ed pointed out and Bart immediately looked down and then back up at him flashing a bright smile. 

“Yeah the doctor said it was looking pretty crash so now all I have to do is keep weight off of it.” 

“Good, maybe soon you can come visit the center? They all miss your idiotic charm.” 

Bart smirked, “so I’m charming?”

Eduardo’s face turned red and he quickly looked away. Bart was very good at making Ed blush and it was something he prided himself in. His green eyes suddenly caught sight of Jaime passing by the window. Naturally, he was with Traci. He had only seen him a few times in the Tower’s medical bay, most times Bart went Jaime was with Traci and didn’t want to disturb the two of them. Artemis did give him updates whenever he asked though which was nice of her. Somewhere in his brain he knew she suspected that he was a little more than just a worried best friend, but she never said anything about it which was a relief. 

One thing he knew was that the scarab was broken. 

The other thing he knew was that it was slowly repairing itself. He and Jaime were slowly growing apart and he hated it. He hated the way Jaime would always ditch him for Traci and whenever Bart got a chance to hang out with him Jaime was sitting on his phone texting Traci. Bart, however, had nothing against the girl. Traci was sweet and bubbly and so much better than him in every way. His eyes followed Jaime until he and Traci disappeared amongst the crowd again. 

“Dios mío, Bart are you listening?” Bart returned his attention to Eduardo who was leaning against the railing next to him. 

“Sorry, I thought I saw something,” he said with a slight shake of his head. 

Bart shifted his body, so he was more so facing Eduardo now. He didn’t realize how close they were standing until their hands brushed against each other on the railing. Instead of moving his hand away Eduardo moved and placed his on top of Bart’s. The dizzy warm feeling that Bart’s been getting suddenly washed over him again, his face flushed a light shade of red. He remembered their ‘date’ to the movies. They held hands throughout the film and Ed even kissed his cheek when he took him home. Bart didn’t really know what they were, they wavered between friends and something more. 

They never discussed what they were after that ‘date’ and never got the chance to because of the craziness that ensued with Tim being almost killed by Deathstroke and the entire team being benched until further notice. He had also been helping Artemis, Dick, and Barbara with their investigation on the attacks. Ever since Tim was attacked and beaten within an inch of his life every attack had ceased. It left Bart on edge, his skin crawling whenever he was out in the open for too long. He returned his attention to Eduardo whose face was bathed in blue, pink, and green from the strobe lights sparkling inside of the base from the lively party going on. 

The speedster’s eyes flickered from Ed’s dark eyes to his lips and then back. Okay, so maybe he liked Eduardo a lot. He was positive that Ed felt the same which was crash but why did he feel so nervous? All he would have to do is lean in a few more centimeters and they’d be kissing. 

“I um, I wanted to take you out again. If that’s okay because I,” Ed cleared his throat and momentarily looked down at his feet to hype himself up before returning his gaze to Bart, “I like you –” Just as Eduardo said that everyone inside began cheering and shouting. They both turned their head and looked to see that the countdown had reached zero. It was the new year. Bart drew in a deep breath and chanced it. He turned Ed’s head to look at him and started to lean in. After all, this is what people did on New Year’s in the past right? They gave the people they liked a kiss. 

Time goes on until it doesn’t. 

The world around him began to slow and it definitely wasn’t in a way that the romance movies make it seem. There was electricity in the air and Bart felt _off._ Eduardo was frozen in place; Bart pulled his hands away from the sides of his face and stared down at them. There were sparks of lightning dancing around his fingers, he looked up and to the side. His reflection in the glass windows of the base were crackles of lightning and fireworks moving ever so slowly in the background. He’s never felt like this before. Bart turned his head and looked the other way over the balcony and was horrified. 

There was a rocket barreling towards them, one that would surely shake the building and cause casualties. It was inching closer second by second and Bart panicked. His reaction was instantaneous as he shoved Eduardo to the side. He pushed himself, a scream ripping through him as he ran out of the way of the explosive shell. Time suddenly quickened and everything around him moved so fast. He reached out for something, anything to stop him as he came crashing into the railing across the balcony. A whistling sound cut through the air and then an explosion shook the entire building. 

The explosion knocked him over the railing, he squeezed his eyes closed believing that this was truly the end of the one and only Bartholomew Allen. There was a flash of golden light and a hand that grabbed his. 

“Please, please, please don’t drop me off the side of the skyscraper!” Bart yelled looking down at the very far away ground. 

He looked back up at Eduardo who was hanging off as well, one hand holding him while the other was desperately holding onto the bent railing of the balcony. Ed looked dazed, blood running down the side of his face – he must have hit his head when Bart pushed him. 

Smoke was billowing from the condo above and Bart silently hoped that everyone was okay. Bart could feel his hand beginning to slip, a spike of anxiety coursing through his veins. His malfunctioning powers and his moody healing abilities definitely wouldn’t save him from splattering across the pavement if he fell now. 

“Ed snap out of it before we both die!” he yelled sparing another glance at the very far away ground. Ed shook his head and blinked a few times, a flash of golden light engulfing the both of them and within a second, they were back on semi-solid ground. 

Bart hissed and grabbed at his leg that felt like it was being shredded by shards of glass. It wasn’t but he guessed it was from running so fast he ended up throwing himself over a balcony. He turned to Eduardo and put his hands on his shoulders, slowly pushing him to sit down on the ground. Ed’s brown eyed gaze roamed the scene behind Bart, he was in shock and most likely had a concussion. He kneeled down in front of him and looked back at the smoldering building behind him. 

He looked back at Ed, taking his face in his hands, “Listen, I have to go in and help them, okay? Stay here,” he fumbled as he reached for his phone in his pocket, “call Artemis, I’ll be back in a flash.” 

Before he could stand Ed reached out for him and grabbed his arm shaking his head. “Bart you’re injured, I can help -” Bart leaned in and pressed his lips against his. Ed’s lips were dry, and he tasted of ash and metal from the blood still leaking down the side of his head. Bart pulled back and licked his lips before flashing Eduardo a smirk. 

“Concussion, remember? Plus, you have a more important job, and that is to come and teleport my nice ass out of there if I’m not out in ten minutes,” he said with a wink before standing. Eduardo nodded; he was still pretty dazed as he slowly began typing the password into Bart’s phone. 

The speedster limped towards what once was the sliding glass doors that led inside the condo’s main floor. He stepped over the shattered glass and into the smoldering room. It was dead silent with the exception of the crackles that came from the slowly spreading fires. Bart raised his arm covering his mouth as he limped through the wreckage. It eerily reminded him of when the Reach first started taking over, launching explosives at buildings that would nearly come toppling down over top of him as he tried his best to rescue the few people he could. The Zeta-tube was spitting out flames that licked the already unstable ceiling. 

Bart already knew from the bodies surrounding him that there was going to be a high casualty count. He recounted in his mind which of his friends were here at the party and which weren’t. There was himself and Eduardo, but there was also Gar, Jaime, Traci, Perdita, - he coughed and shook his head. His brain was still a little frazzled from nearly falling off the side of a building. He stopped and looked down at a girl, she couldn’t have been too much older than he was, her eyes were open and soulless and her face as well as half of her body was scorched from the explosion. The ground shook when one of the support beams from above fell narrowly missing Bart as it hit the ground. 

The panic was starting to eat away at his brain and soon he knew it was going to breakdown the barrier he had it hidden behind. Death didn’t faze him as much as it should have, but it was still shocking to see all the bodies. Before he only had to worry about himself but now, he had people he cared about and loved and right now a majority of them were somewhere in this room. He coughed again; the smoke was starting to stick in his lungs making it harder to breathe. 

“Jaime, Gar, Traci, Cassie -” he coughed again and when he did, he heard a cry out in the distance. Whatever they were saying was unclear, but he followed the sound of the pained voice to the kitchen. 

The metal support beam had crushed many things, many people. It had gone through the kitchens island as if the marble counter was made of paper. The voice became louder the closer he got to what once was the kitchen. It was hard to see through the black smoke, a hand shot out and grabbed his ankle. Bart jumped, hissing as he landed on his injured leg, and looked down at the person crushed between the floor and heavy metal support beam. 

“Please do not leave,” Perdita whimpered with a cough. Bart not so gracefully fell to his knees, wincing at the pain that shot up his spine from his leg, and attempted to lift the beam to no avail. 

It was then he noticed the green hand that was just barely peeking out from underneath the beam. Perdita was crying and coughing all the same, blood matted in her hair and running from her nose. 

“Garfield he – he’s trapped! He jumped on me when the explosion happened!” She explained in between deep huffs of breath. Bart nodded keeping a calm composure. It was all he could do in that moment. This whole situation was moded. Whoever was attacking them really wanted all of them dead. Perdita was trying to move around; the majority of her body was pinned with the exception of her right arm that she was using to try and push the beam off. “Perdita stop moving!” he shouted. The blonde froze and released her hand slowly from the beam. His gaze was stern as he grabbed her hand and squeezed it. 

“Don’t move okay? Right now, the beam is putting pressure on your body and if you have any major wounds it could be the only thing keeping you alive so please, don’t move,” he begged. There was a crumbling noise coming from further within the condo. He peeked over the beam to see a part of the staircase being pushed off and a weary Cassie stood from the rubble swaying as she took a step forward. 

“Cassie – Cassie over here!” he yelled waving his hands for her to see. 

She stumbled over, looking around her in a daze. Her right arm hung lower; Bart assumed her shoulder was dislocated as she held it. 

“What happened?” she asked, her voice sounding as if she had just woken up from a long nap. He stood, his fingers still touching Perdita’s – she wouldn’t let him go. Cassie walked over; her eyes lightly glazed over with tears that she refused to shed. 

“Garfield’s underneath. We need to get the beam off and get them out, but I don’t know how hurt they are and if moving it will be worse than waiting for help,” he whispered to his friend. 

“The buildings not stable, we need to get them out. Perdita is priority,” Cassie said before hacking out a cough. 

Blood trickled down the side of her mouth, but Bart didn’t say anything. Their main focus was Perdita and getting her out. After all, she was the ruler of a country and without her it would fall apart. Cassie carefully climbed over the beam and dropped down on the other side; Bart kneeled next to Perdita again. 

“Cassie’s gonna move the beam and we’re going to get you out okay? Whatever happens, whatever pain you feel, you squeeze my hand and if you want to scream then go ahead and scream but whatever you do, just look at me okay?” he said taking a better hold of her hand. 

He nodded at Cassie who leaned down and grabbed the beam with her left hand. Cassie yelled as she slowly began to raise the beam. As soon as it began to move Perdita screamed. Her scream was gut-wrenching enough to knock Bart back into a deeply buried memory. He was so young, and his mother was trapped after an explosion the Reach caused. Bart tried, he tried to get her out, but he wasn’t strong enough. His father tried too but every time the rubble crushing her was moved, she would let out a blood curdling scream. The Reach were coming, and his father grabbed him, Bart was bawling and holding onto her hand and then she let go and they were – Cassie screamed at him suddenly. 

Reality hit him like a ton of bricks when he heard her screaming his name. Perdita’s nails were digging into his hand, her eyes squeezed closed and her jaw clenched tight. He stood, stumbling slightly, and dragged Perdita out. 

“I’ll get her out, check on Gar!” he called over to Cassie as he scooped Perdita up in his arms. He chanced a glance down at her as he carried her towards the balcony. There was blood matting the midsection of her shirt, her bone protruding from her right leg. A bright white light blinded him as he stepped out of the wreckage and back into an area where the air was clean. 

There were several news channel helicopters flying around shining their bright white lights down onto the balcony. Eduardo saw him and relief washed over his face as he ran over to them. His knees buckled and he fell still holding Perdita. That was when the Bioship pulled up as well as numerous evac helicopters from hospitals in the surrounding area. Bart was so tired at this point; he could feel his grip around Perdita loosening. Medical technicians were lowered from the helicopter onto the balcony and rushed over to him. 

“This is Queen Perdita of Vlatava, she’s got crush injuries and a broken leg and I don’t know, internal bleeding probably?” he said, his voice getting fainter as they took her from his arms. 

As soon as he saw she was being evacuated he fell into Eduardo. “I need to go back, Cassie’s trying to get Gar out and Jaime, Jaime’s missing and the others we -” Ed shushed him with a kiss to the forehead. He pulled him into an embrace and ran his hand through his ashy auburn hair. 

Another kiss was pressed to the top of his head, “You did good cariño,” Ed said, the pet name rolling easily off his tongue. 

“I did?” Bart asked quietly. 

The bioship opened up and several of the older leaguers and team jumped or flew out. Bart and Ed looked towards them. Artemis caught his gaze and ran over to the two of them, falling to her knees and pulling the both of them into a hug. 

“Oh, thank god you’re okay,” she breathed out relieved. Bart’s chin rested on her shoulder, he watched Miss Martian land softly on the ground. Superboy was beside her and a sudden look of horror masked her face. 

“No!” she screamed. Connor grabbed her, restraining her from running further. Martians were vulnerable to fire, he remembered. 

Bart closed his eyes; he already knew why she was screaming. People often believed that as superheroes were invulnerable. He used to know who died when, he knew everyone’s futures, but now the timeline was different. 

He didn’t know a damn thing anymore. 

He saw all the bodies, he stepped over them, saw the soullessness in their eyes. The media would have a field day with this. They were always portrayed as indestructible beings that could take hits from missiles and walk away without a scratch. Everyone believed that because they were heroes nothing could touch them, sometimes they even believed that themselves. It was such bullshit.


	10. The Orphan with the Bird on her Shoulder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim's frustrated and angry at the League's lack of action on Slade and the mysterious people he's running with. He's set off on a rage and vengeance fueled mission to hunt down Slade Wilson. Dick of course, has to stop his little brother before he ends up like his predecessor.

Dick sat back in the uncomfortable chair and stared at his phone; his eyes were as wide as saucers by this point. Social media was blowing up when news broke that the Outsiders base was attacked during a New Year’s party. He glanced over his phone to Tim who was fast asleep on the couch. Tim had dropped in a few hours ago unannounced while Dick was out with Barbara. When he came home, he found the teen curled up on the couch fast asleep. He didn’t question it, he assumed Bruce was being a little too much for the kid at the moment so the only place he could come to that wasn’t far was his.

A name and a face popped up on the screen, he answered it fast enough that his phone didn’t even have time to ring. He stood from his seat and quietly walked into his bedroom nearby closing the door behind him. The bright city lights from Blüdhaven glimmered in his room and sparkled against the snow that covered the ledge of his windows. 

“What the hell happened?” he growled into the phone. He tugged at the dark strands of his hair out of frustration as he paced back and forth in front of the large window. 

“There was an explosion. The body count is high, too high,” Artemis said, her voice fairly levelled for the chaos he could hear going on in the background. 

He grabbed the nearby remote and turned his television on. Reporters were all over this. After all, the Outsiders had become so popular, even more so than the Justice League, in the last few months. He muted it, instead watching the footage of numerous evac helicopters airlifting people they pulled from the rubble to nearby hospitals. Artemis was in her Tigress uniform standing on the balcony, he could barely make out her black and orange figure on the screen. 

“And the team?” he asked, his voice quiet. 

There was silence for a moment, “Two of our own were killed. The others that didn’t need immediate medical attention were taken to the Tower’s medical bay via the bioship.” 

Artemis sniffed; he could hear the sadness in her voice when she relayed the information to him. Dick hadn’t seen such a large body count since…since he couldn’t even remember. He silently thanked whoever was out there that Tim was too hurt to go to that party. Now it was time for the one question he was absolutely dreading. His stomach churned as he willed himself to ask it. 

“Who did we lose?” he asked. 

“Garfield, he saved Queen Perdita. He was already gone when Cassie and Bart got to him and Perdita,” 

“Who else?” 

“Virgil, he was touch and go on the way to the hospital. The third time he flatlined they couldn’t resuscitate him…he’s gone.” 

Before he knew what he was doing, his fist was embedded in the wall. He cursed under his breath and pulled his hand out from the wall and brought it to his chest. He’s punched harder surfaces before but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt like hell. Artemis called his name through the phone that he’d dropped on the floor. 

“Sorry,” he mumbled into the phone when he picked it up. He drew in a deep breath clearing his brain of the grief that was currently clouding it – he needed to think straight. 

“I want Slade and his partners found **_now,”_** he said sharply before hanging up the phone. 

When he exited his room, he noticed that Tim was awake and sitting up on the sofa. The blanket was still thrown around his shoulders and he had his head in his hands. He must have overheard the conversation. Dick rested his hand on his younger brothers’ shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. The kid raised his head, there was a darkness in his eyes. Tim was never as happy and optimistic as Dick was, he always had this seriousness to him, but never has Dick seen such darkness in him. 

“Who did it?” he asked. 

“I don’t know,” Dick answered truthfully. 

Tim shot up from the couch and winced, grabbing his stomach. He still wasn’t in the best shape since Deathstroke got the drop on him. There were still staples in his abdomen from where he was shot, a black brace on his wrist because of the fracture, a few stitches and dark bruises also decorated his legs, arms, and face. He’d been to hell and back more than once so Dick was sure he would be alright given time. 

“Tim…,” he said softly. His brother looked as if he was about to explode. 

He grabbed Dick by the collar of his shirt with one hand, “Don’t lie to me Dick. I heard you on the phone, they killed my friends,” his voice was shaky, eyes red. 

“We think Deathstroke is working alongside an unidentified group with Apokaliptan weapons. We don’t know why they are attacking you guys specifically, but we’re working on it,” Dick explained. 

Tim let his shirt go and took a step back. His gaze hardened at his brother and he shook his head. 

“Dick, they’ve killed two of us! Saying that you’re ‘working on it’ isn’t good enough. Not for us,” he said coldly. He backed up towards the window behind him that led to a fire escape. Dick slowly took a few steps towards him. The last thing he wanted was for his younger injured brother to go off on a rage fueled suicide mission. 

“Tim listen, I know you’re upset but you are in no position health-wise to head off on your own,” Dick said reaching out for him. Three figures suddenly dropped down onto the fire escape and opened the window, Tim climbed halfway out and looked back at Dick. 

“For their sake, I hope you find them before we do.” 

A red arrow shot through the gap between Tim’s torso and the windowsill. It landed in the floorboards a few centimeters from Dick’s feet. A puff of grey smoke burst from the end of the arrow and filled the room. “Tim!” he yelled rushing through the smoke to the window. He leaned out taking a breath of fresh air and looked around. The four of them were gone. While he quickly opened the windows of his apartment to let the frigid air in and the smoke out, he popped the earpiece into his ear and tapped the side of it. 

“Oracle, I need you to pull up the GPS locations for Arrowette, Spoiler, and Orphan.” 

“What’s wrong? Are they being attacked?” Barbara’s voice sounded frantic; he could hear her typing quickly. 

“No. They’re with Tim and I’m worried they’re about to get themselves killed,” he sighed and headed to his closet, pushing the clothes to the side and grabbing his Nightwing uniform from the back. 

Within a few minutes he was stood on the ledge of the neighbouring apartment building. The air was frigid, he could feel the tip of his nose starting to go numb. 

“This makes no sense…they’ve gone complete opposite directions,” 

Dick raised an eyebrow, “send me the coordinates to Orphan’s GPS location,” 

“Coordinates sent; GPS location locked,” Babs answered seconds after. 

Dick flipped off the side of the building, feeling the sharp air cut at his face like small knives. The winter was the worst, it always was. Just as he was about to hit the ground, he shot his grappling hook at another building that quickly zipped him up towards it. The coordinates led him to a safe house in Blüdhaven that Dick rarely used. He slid in through the window, closing it quietly behind him. It was dark and the dead silence made his skin crawl. A katana suddenly whipped across the room and embedded itself in the wall beside his head. His heart skipped a beat as he yanked it out of the wall and brought it down in front of him, clashing with the other blade that was aiming to hit him. 

Cassandra was a tough fighter and probably the most unpredictable next to Dick. They fought like it was a dance, moving gracefully through the darkness. He bent back as the thin blade slashed across above where he was once standing. Cass sent her fist flying forwards, punching him in the nose and knocking him to the floor. Just as she was about to swing again with the blade, he kicked her legs out from under her and kicked the katana from her hand, watching it skid across the floor and under the beaten-up kitchen table across the apartment. He jumped up and lowered the blade down pointing it towards her neck. 

A grin spread across his face as he drew the katana back and wiped the blood from his nose. Cass was a good fighter, he was impressed. He offered her his hand which she gladly took and gave her a soft smile. 

“The day you beat me is the day I’ll buy you all the ice cream you want.” He said as she pulled the stitched mask off of her face. Her short dark hair was tangled and sweaty from being trapped underneath a mask and a hood all night long. 

“Where’s Tim? I know you’re the level-headed one and also the one to help me find him,” Dick said, now crossing his arms and glowering down at the teen. 

“He is hurt. His friends are dead, and he wants revenge,” She signed over in ALS. 

“Cass, where is he? You and I both know that Cissie and Steph are not the greatest or mature people to be around when it comes to enacting revenge. They are impulsive and sometimes stupidly reckless and right now he really doesn’t need that influence,” he explained while wiping his nose again with the back of his hand. 

Cass shrugged and signed back, “We were told to split, you would be following. He is smart.” 

Dick notice the slight curl of the corner of her mouth and raised an eyebrow. Cassandra always had a few tricks up her sleeve. Once upon a time, she was trained to be the world’s deadliest assassin, now she had wiggled her way into their family and became the little sister he didn’t know he wanted until now. She pulled out a small device from her utility belt and pressed the button in the middle. It suddenly began to blink violet. 

“Dick, I have a signal,” Babs said in his ear. 

“I will talk, he will listen to me. You be the bird on my shoulder,” Cassandra signed over. 

She pulled the mask back on over her head and the hood over top of that. On the way out of the apartment she collected her katana, Dick handed her the other one. They slid into the sheaths on her back under the short shredded black cape. The two moved swiftly across the rooftops, travelling like wispy shadows against the city skyline. Dick focused on finding Tim. He only wanted to find Tim; he had his mind set on it. Everything else was pushed to the back of his mind. He didn’t want to think of the team’s heartbreak, of M’gann’s scream when she found out her little brother was dead, the bodies of numerous teenagers being pulled from the rubble of the condo. 

The two came up on a small warehouse by the river that separated Gotham and Blüdhaven. The dark waves were crashing against the dock, wind whistling as it whipped through the gaps of the warehouses. The two of them landed quietly on the roof and crept up to the skylight and peered in. 

“Your base is here?” Dick whispered, looking over to Cass who was crouched across the skylight from him. She shrugged and lightly pressed her hand on the snow sprinkled glass. Tim was inside along with Arrowette and Spoiler. He was definitely having a talk with GA about his protégé when he got the chance. 

Dick looked back over at Cassandra who had her hands raised slightly. 

“They wait for me,” she pointed to her ear, “in ear, you listen,” she signed over to him. Dick nodded and leaned back away from the skylight. Cassandra popped one of the glass panels open and slid inside landing on one of the support beams, before flipping down and landing gracefully on her feet. 

“Patching you through now.” Barbara informed in his ear. There was static for a moment which then cleared, he could hear them now. He stayed hidden, not risking peering in through the skylight in case one of them spotted him. 

Despite Tim’s injuries and obvious emotional distraction, he was still highly trained and was sometimes more observant than Dick himself. 

“I’m fine,” Tim said begrudgingly as he taped up his hands. Arrowette was sitting on a crate nearby, sharpening the tips of her arrows and then sliding them back into the quiver at her side. Spoiler was perched up above in the rafters, her legs swinging back and forth as she listened into the conversation. Dick gave his brother credit for his choice in teammates for his own squad. The kid hand-picked all of them over his friends from the main team. 

Dick was slowly beginning to understand why he chose these three girls as time went on. Cassandra pulled her hood down and removed her mask tucking it under her armpit. 

“You are not fine,” she signed over to him, her dark eyebrows drawn together tightly and a disapproving smile on her mouth. 

He glared at her, “Batman’s been in worse shape. I’ll be fine,” he hissed. 

“You are not Batman,” she signed back, her hand movements quick and harsh. 

The dark-haired teen turned away from her and reached for the utility belt, fastening it around his waist. He was two-quarters way dressed in his uniform already; one half of his vest was hanging off of him revealing some of the staples in his stomach. The area was red and irritated from the lack of a bandage that would normally provide a barrier between the sensitive skin and the rough hard material of the protective vest on his uniform. Tim still needed time to recover and it was oddly apparent with the way his hands shook when it came to do the last clasp on his vest, near the exposed wound. The violet clad figure jumped down and stood in front of the struggling hero. Spoiler’s hands worked delicately as she gently clipped the last clasp into place on the vest and then proceeded to help fasten his cape into place. 

Dick was becoming restless from the lack of conversation and chanced a glance through the long skylight. Arrowette’s brown eyes darted from the small shadow being cast to the floor and then up to the quickly retreating figure watching them from the skylight. Her hands moved faster than her voice as she nocked an arrow into her bow and shot it through the glass where the figure once lingered. Cassandra pulled the mask over her head and unsheathed the katana at her side. The glass clattered to the floor at their feet, breaking into smaller and smaller pieces. The three of them crowded in front of Tim awaiting an attack. 

At the sound of the glass shattering and the sight of an arrow sailing up towards the stars, Dick stood. He moved out of the way just in time for the arrow to fall back to the ground and land sharply in the roof next to him. 

“Be gentle, they’re all scared and on edge,” Barbara said softly in his ear as he jumped through the broken skylight. Tim looked discouraged when he saw his brother, but not surprised. Arrowette nocked another arrow into her bow, this one had a grey cylindrical end on it. 

“My patience is growing pretty thin after you made me chase you to another city,” Dick said as he stretched his arms back and pulled out the escrima sticks from the sheaths on his back. He kept Arrowette in his peripherals. If anything was to go down, he would have to get to her first. She was the next best shot after Oliver and Artemis; Will was rusty from retirement and Roy preferred his arm canon over anything else. 

“We’re taking action when you and your friends won’t,” Spoiler piped up just as Tim was about to open his mouth. 

“No, you’re not. I get it, you’re tired and angry, especially after what happened tonight. But you, all of you, are in no shape to go up against a group that we know nothing about,” he tried to reason. Tim’s eyes narrowed into a sharp glare, “Deathstroke has to be stopped, and if you won’t do it then we will,” 

Dick’s face fell at the sound of his brother’s blind determination. He remembered being in that exact spot when Wally died. The speedster was his best friend and when he ceased to exist, Dick didn’t know what to do except throw himself blindly into any fight he could. The difference between him and Tim was that Tim has someone to want revenge from while Dick didn’t. 

“Fine. If you get past me then you can go after Deathstroke,” Dick said throwing his arms out to the side dramatically. An arrow was released and was quickly deflected by the long thin blade cutting in front of the older vigilante. 

He looked to Cassandra and nodded to her in a way that only people in their tight-knit bat-related family would understand. Her haunting dark figure shot into battle against the other two girls in a matter of seconds. Dick returned his attention to his brother who was slightly hunched over, face pale. The escrima sticks twirled in his hands and electrified, the voltage set low enough to only stun if it came into contact with Tim. His brother pulled out a small stick which extended into the long bo-staff that he typically used in combat. Tim was the first to attack. 

Dick fought defensively more than anything. He wasn’t aiming to hurt his brother anymore than he already was. The staff swung at him again and he ducked, sticking one of the escrima sticks forward and shocking Tim in the leg. Tim hissed and moved back, limping slightly. 

“We don’t even know what we’re going up against. Deathstroke is only one player in this game they’re playing. Going after him is suicide and you know it,” Dick said as he dodged another strike. 

“He got the drop on you, beat you – hell he even humiliated you,” he continued. 

The staff came his way again and this time Dick hit it out of Tim’s hand. It went sliding across the concrete ground and out of arms reach. His brother wasn’t fighting as well as he normally did. He was fighting with anger rather than logic, and they had both learned very quickly that it was something that could get you killed. Tim curled his hand into a fist and sent it towards his brothers face in a last-ditch effort. Dick caught it, closing his fingers around the fist and twisting it. 

“Your friends are dead; we can’t lose you too,” Dick said, his words firm. It was at this point that Tim gave up. 

The kid was drenched in sweat and was on the verge of passing out from over-exertion. He wasn’t supposed to be walking long distances let alone throwing himself into a full-on fight. Dick let go of his hand and reached for his arm pulling him up just before he collapsed to the ground from exhaustion.

“We’re done.” Tim said with a deep breath. As soon as the words left his mouth, Cassandra put her katana away and stepped to the side. Spoiler and Arrowette ended up falling into each other when they both meant to pounce on Cassandra who was no longer where she stood. 

She came to the other side of Tim and wrapped his arm around her shoulders to help support him. Although she couldn’t verbally communicate it, she did love and care for Tim as any sibling would. Spoiler and Arrowette untangled themselves from each other and stood from the ground. 

Dick looked at the two of them sternly, “Now I need your help, _all_ of your help if we’re going to stop Deathstroke and whoever the hell else he’s working with,” 

“Fine,” they all said simultaneously. 

Cassandra merely cocked her head to the side and gave him a thumbs up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry that I killed Virgil too and I'm sorry for those that really like his character but like he had no character development in season 3 and in all honesty I forgot he existed in season 3 he was in it so little so I wrote him out, please don't kill me!


	11. Incognito

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The adults agree that the teenagers need to lie low. A few glamour charms and one log cabin in the middle of nowhere left them successfully hidden, somewhat.

The plan was well…a work in progress. While they were still working on this _plan,_ they had yet to figure out what to do with the kids. They weren’t safe, no one was. Their whereabouts were to be hidden – hidden was a word not taken lightly when putting this mini plan into place. Dick called it codename _Incognito._ It was very fortunate that an anonymous individual donated the use of one of their cabins up in Montana. Dick, Artemis, along with Zatanna’s knowledge of magic, also decided it was best to give them all glamour charms.

It was the same charm used on Artemis when she went undercover with Kaldur back during the Reach invasion. Since then it had been improved somewhat with the help of Zatara’s magic. Doctor Fate and Zatara had come to a decision that the magician within would be released momentarily to help with the glamour charms. Fate’s magic was unique and would be easy to distinguish if someone like Klarion were to happen upon them, however, that was very unlikely, but they took every precaution. 

Cassandra remembered the debriefing as clear as day. 

She remembered standing tall; her gaze sharp as she studied the new faces. Tim spoke highly of the Outsiders as well as the League’s covert op team. Originally, she was supposed to be in Gotham working alongside Bruce in Tim’s absence, but even the Dark Knight agreed that they required a protection detail if anything were to happen. Most of the teens were still in pretty bad shape from either being attacked or from the explosion. She recognized a few faces in the room. Besides Tim and Dick, she recognized Artemis, Sportsmasters daughter, as well as Cassie. Wondergirl had been around the manor many times, Cass knew she was kind. 

Everyone else was a fresh face, excluding the fact that she had seen pictures of some of them that Tim had shown her before. She remembered the strange looks that some of them gave her, most of them were out of curiosity. Many of them had not even heard of her until now. 

“…and this is Orphan. She’ll be the immediate security detail on the ground with you guys. Others such as myself, Artemis, Miss Martian, and people from the League will be keeping watch in shifts nearby,” Dick said as he introduced her to them. 

“You can just call her Cass,” Tim said after. 

Now they were in the bitter cold of Montana. Heavy snow caked the ground and the pine trees around them. The cabin was large and sat on a hill, looking over a frozen lake. She had been there before, during the summertime with the family. Bruce tried to at least fit in one vacation day a year. Everyone had glamour charms with the exception of herself, Tim, Forager, and Violet. After all, Bruce did own the cabin and it would be strange for a bunch of teenagers to be living in it without someone from the Wayne family present. Forager already had his own disguise as Fred Bugg and for Violet, well not many villains had seen Violet Harper before. 

They all looked the same to each other but to outsiders they were a bunch of random teenagers. Dick gave them a cover story; if anyone were to ask, they were just a group of friends of the family who were headed up here for Christmas break. It was believable, teenagers partied at cottages all the time. Everyone was quiet, well, except for the speedster. Cassandra noticed how bubbly his behaviour was as well as his impulsive need to move around. 

The sky was already dark when they stepped inside of the large luxurious cabin. The drive here had been long and cramped. Dick was insistent on them acting as ‘normal’ as possible, which meant no zeta-tube use unless it was an emergency. 

Her legs moved on their own as she headed towards the room, she stayed in the last time she was here. It was the first room on the second floor. An arm swung around her shoulders, she quickly reached for the sword at her hip, her hand lingering on the hilt of it. 

“Do you mind if Traci and I room with you? I think it’d be great for us to have some girl time!” Cassie said loudly. Her hand released the hilt of her sword and she nodded. The blonde seemed enthusiastic, but the hollow look in her blue eyes gave away her true feelings. There were two queen sized beds in the room, she took the one to the far left by the window. 

Cassie returned hauling a brunette girl along with her. Traci was slender, about average height, olive skin, and a smattering of freckles on her cheeks. Cassandra tucked away the information to the back of her mind and offered the new girl a small smile. From what she knew from Tim, Traci was dating Blue Beetle and had an affinity for magic. Her powers, however, brought a lot of bad luck. “Traci this is Cassandra. She’s probably the most awesome person you’re ever going to meet.” Cassie said with a smile, her eyes lightening ever so slightly. 

“Hi, it’s always nice to meet someone awesome,” Traci said nodding towards Cass. 

She returned to unpacking her suitcase. Cassandra didn’t pack much; she knew there was still some clothes here from last time. The swords sheath was removed from her side, she rested it against the bedside table in case she needed to grab it quick during the night. Everyone had no problem turning into bed early. After the long drive they all needed a break and a comfortable surface to crash on. Cassie and Traci shared a bed and whispered to each other for most of the night, before falling asleep during the early hours of the morning. 

Cassandra was the first person awake; she always was. The cabin was silent with the exception of the wind whistling loudly outside. She trained early every morning. It was something that was instilled in her since birth. Of course, swinging a sword around in front of the glass window this early in the morning would have people in surrounding cabins suspicious if they saw. The living room was lit by the single chandelier that hung above; she moved the couches back to give her enough room. 

The girl leaned down and tied the ribbons on her black ballet shoes and then promptly shoved headphones into her ears. The music playlist was classical songs, those that were typically heard at symphonies or ballet shows. She moved much like fluid, swift, smooth, precise. Everything was perfect, she was trained to work to perfection. Her mind dragged her back to her trip to Europe. It was something she did by herself, Bruce encouraged her to explore the world. She was lost in her own world for an hour. Her movements stopped and her eyes snapped open when she sensed that someone else had entered the room with her. 

It was the speedster. He was watching her intently, eyebrows furrowed, and arms crossed as he leaned back against the kitchen island. When he noticed that she had stopped moving his gaze flew up to meet her dark eyes from across the room. 

There was a flush of red that swallowed the pale complexion of his face, “Sorry I just thought that your dancing was super crash I mean you move so nicely and itssocoolmynamesBartbythewayifyoudon’talreadyknow,” he spit out embarrassed, the end of his sentence becoming blurred. Bart seemed shocked by how fast he just spoke. Cassandra remembered Dick mentioning something about the speedster having his powers inhibited. 

Could they be returning? 

Cassandra wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand and walked over to the kitchen towards the nervous speedster. She noticed in passing the way that he twisted and fumbled with his fingers. 

“You don’t seem to talk much do you? Which is totally crash by the way you don’t need to talk!” he spluttered, his face red as a tomato. She stifled a laugh, her face and composure remaining serious.

“I struggle,” she signed over to him. 

It wasn’t a lie. She had the capability of speaking, she just simply did not know how. From a young age she was raised to be the ultimate assassin, the greatest warrior of the century. Speaking, reading, writing, those were all things that were unnecessary for someone like her. It was only in the last year or so with the family that Bruce got her a tutor. She understood everyone to a degree although some words they used were confusing. Bart cocked his head to the side and grinned. Her nose crinkled as she flashed him a smile. Bart was nice, however, he seemed troubled. His eyes moved to her feet and then back up to her face. 

“You do ballet, right? That’s why they’re all flat at the top?” he asked pointing to her black ballet shoes. She nodded and rose to her tiptoes, Bart seemed absolutely floored by this. 

“That means you’re a ballerina, right? A super cool ninja ballerina?” he asked while walking to the fridge and getting her a water bottle. 

Cass nodded and caught the bottle he tossed to her, “crash,” he said with a smile. 

For the next few hours, until everyone else dragged themselves out of bed, the two were in the living room. Bart was perched on the couch sipping on a juice box and stared in awe as he watched her dance. Every once in awhile he would even try and mimic some of her moves. Cassandra’s opinion of the speedster was very high by the time the rest of them moved down the staircase. She lingered in the living room, watching everyone gather around in the kitchen. They were all chatting, Bart was even making some of them crack a smile. It was strange seeing the friendly interactions. The only friends she’s ever had were Tim and Dick. Spoiler and Arrowette were nice but they only really ever spoke while on missions or stakeouts. 

Bart had his arm slung around another boys shoulders, the boy was a tad taller than him with a mess of dark hair. Cassandra recognized him as El Dorado, a new member of the Outsiders. She was good at fighting, heavily skilled in almost all types of combat. But being social and making friends was not something she was good at. Her gaze moved to Cassie who was chatting away with a very tired Traci. She looked for Tim, then and saw him at the counter with Violet and Forager – they were making breakfast. 

“Cass come join us!” Bart yelled waving her over, he was bouncing up and down. 

Everyone looked at her. 

What was this feeling? It was almost comparable to dread. “Guys, she’s super cool, did you know she’s a ballerina?” Bart said detaching himself from Eduardo and walking over to Cassandra. He looped his arm in hers and walked her to the island offering her his seat at the counter. 

“It’s alright, I can stand,” he said as she climbed up onto the smooth stool. The speedster very easily added her to their conversation, asking her questions or her opinion on certain topics. It was… nice to be a part of a large group. The bubbly atmosphere soon dissipated once breakfast was served. 

It was pancakes and cereal and some fruits they grabbed at the store on the way here. Tim was an okay cook, though no one could ever beat Alfred’s meals. They got down to business once many of them were done eating. Tim stood at the front of the island wedged in between Cassie and Traci. He had tired lines in his face, bags under his eyes from many sleepless nights. 

“As much as chatting and vacationing is fun, we have to remember why we’re here,” he said. 

“We are here because people keep trying to kill us?” Violet interjected, her statement sounded more like an open-ended question. 

“Killing,” Bart coughed. 

Everyone glared at the speedster except for her. He was being truthful, bold. He was saying the thing that nobody else wanted to discuss let alone believe. 

“We’re being attacked by Deathstroke and an unknown third party, their motive as to why is still unclear,” Tim explained to them. 

“Revenge?” Cassandra signed to Tim. 

The thought made sense. There was no clear motive, but she knew from experience that merciless acts didn’t always need motive. Some people hurt others just because they could or because they thought it was fun. 

“You hurt them. They hurt back,” she continued signing, her hand movements strong and determined. Cass had a feeling about her statement, was it a hunch? Perhaps she was right? Deathstroke had been defeated multiple times as well as his group, The Light. Maybe this was just a revenge ploy to hurt them back? 

“It’s plausible but I wouldn’t peg Slade to be the type for revenge,” Tim said, his eyebrows were furrowed as he thought. 

“Motives can always change. It’s not unheard of and he’s probably pissed from all the times we’ve kicked his ass,” Cassie smirked and cracked her knuckles. 

Tim rolled his eyes, “This is Slade Wilson we’re talking about. He still applauds Nightwing for being able to go toe to toe with him. I doubt he’d care about a group of kids that could barely knock him off his feet.” 

Cassandra was confused as well. She had met Deathstroke before in the past and even received some training from him – he was a very rough and unforgiving teacher. She knew that he enjoyed having power as well as money. Most people could get him to do anything for the right price. She suddenly turned and looked towards Jaime Reyes. 

“You were attacked, do you remember who did it?” she signed over to him. Her gaze was hard and calculative when she looked at him. Traci elbowed him lightly in the side with her elbow causing him to jump slightly. His girlfriend nodded with her head towards Cassandra and he finally looked at her. 

“Dude, do you remember anything from when you were jumped?” Bart asked, summing up Cass’s question. 

He scratched the back of his neck and looked down, “I don’t remember a lot. Just falling from the sky and then a woman’s voice, I think. Scarab can’t recall anything either.” 

They all went silent. From what Tim had told her, Jaime didn’t talk much about what happened to him. She remembered him telling her that Jaime was found in the forest hours after he went missing. Apparently, he almost died. Cassandra knows what that’s like, almost dying. It’s unlike any other feeling. She can describe it as almost like sinking, grasping for something in the darkness only to realize that there’s nothing. Just darkness. The thought alone made her shiver and she crossed her arms. Tim was about to speak again when the doorbell rang. Everyone froze in place, their heads darting to the side to look towards the front door. 

It was locked and the blinds were drawn down over the glass portion of the doorway. They could see a tall dark figure lingering behind the doorway. Cassandra looked to Tim, “Do not answer,” she signed over to him quickly. 

She quietly departed and ran for the sword in her room, grabbing it quickly and running back into the hallway. Cassandra slid down the railing of the staircase and hopped off heading for the front door. Her hand lingered on the brass doorknob, she looked back to see the group dispersed around the main room. Tim stood nearby with his bo staff in his hand in case anything was to happen. She twisted the doorknob and opened the door, her eyes widening in surprise.


	12. Unexpected Visitor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You're Tim Drake, _the_ same Timothy Drake that is related to _the_ Bruce Wayne?!"

Tim watched from the side just out of the doors line of sight. He noticed the way Cassandra’s posture changed, her shoulders slouching and her grip around her sword behind the door loosening.

“Cassandra! How the heck are ya kid?” he recognized the loud and burly voice. It was one of the neighbours, although he couldn’t pinpoint in his memory which one it was. The plots of land for the cabins were fairly large so whoever it was would’ve had to drive here. He retracted the staff in his hand and shoved the small stick into his pocket and walked over. 

He realized now why Cass was being so laid back. It was one of Bruce’s friends, one of Wayne Enterprise’s main investors. He and his family owned a cottage a little way away from their own and often interrupted their ‘vacation’ whenever they were here. The man’s face lit up when he saw Tim. The man was tall, shoulders wide and squared off, red curly hair and freckles covering him from head to toe. He clapped a large hand down on Tim’s shoulder, he fought the urge to wince. 

“How’s the old man?” he asked, eyes looking around the inside of the cabin. 

“He’s y’know, busy with work,” Tim answered awkwardly. 

The man, Tim suddenly remembered the guy’s name as Clancy Pierson. 

“The kids spotted ya’ll driving up the road last night. Old man let you have the cabin to yourselves?” Clancy asked, wiggling his bushy eyebrows. The man suddenly pushed past them and into the cabin. He had a bad habit of inviting himself into places. He placed his hands on his hips and looked up to the ceiling marveling at the chandelier. 

“Wow, your dad sure knows how to decorate. The place is just as posh as the manor!” Clancy exclaimed with a grin. Tim cursed himself quietly. His friends were about to know _a lot_ more about him and Cassandra than he would’ve liked. 

Clancy stopped from gazing at the chandelier and then turned in the direction of the kitchen and living room. His friends were standing awkwardly around, staring at the large burly man. Tim glanced behind at Cass who signed to them, “civilian.” For those of them who didn’t understand sign language the word was quickly whispered around. As soon as Cass closed the door behind her, shutting out the cold air, they fell into Wayne-kid mode. 

“And who are your friends?” Clancy asked walking across the carpet in his wet winter boots. Tim quickly walked over, his posture impeccably straight and a warm smile on his face. 

He was quick to introduce his friends using their fake names while under the use of the glamour charms. Clancy shook every one of their hands, complimenting Cassie along the way for her strong grip. 

“Well any friends of Bruce Wayne’s kids are friends o’mine,” Clancy said with a jolly smile. They all looked stunned with the exception of Bart and Cassie who already knew their secret ID’s. Clancy looked between the group of kids and Tim and Cassandra. 

“Was it something I said?” Clancy asked scratching the back of his head awkwardly. 

“It’s fine, we were just keeping the whole Wayne thing on the down low.” Tim answered through a forced smile. 

“Gee, sorry kid. I guess the cats outta the bag now,” he said, his face red with embarrassment. 

Tim realized now why Bruce wasn’t the biggest fan of Clancy, which is why the only time they were ever around the guy was when it was at the cottage or galas that they either threw or attended.

“If y’all want, the kids and I are heading up to skate on the lake later and it’d be great if you and your friends could come. The girls would be thrilled to see you again Timmy!” Clancy said clapping Tim in the back so hard he stumbled forwards. The man had a very strong arm to say the least. 

“Dude that’d be so crash! I’ve never gone ice skating before!” Bart yelled jumping up and down. 

“Crash? I’ll never understand the new lingo you kids use these days. Anyways, I guess we’ll be seeing you later then!” Clancy said clapping Tim on the back yet again. 

They walked the man to the door and bid him a quick farewell. It was silent as they watched him through the windows as he got into his car and slowly pulled down the snow-covered driveway out of view. 

“You’re Tim Drake, _the_ Timothy Drake that is related to _the_ Bruce Wayne?!” Traci yelled from her place in the kitchen next to Jaime. 

“Does that mean Bruce Wayne is –” 

“- he’s just my dad that’s it!” 

Tim stopped himself once he realized what he said. Was Bruce his dad? He had a dad before the Penguin killed his parents because of a stupid mistake he did to try and prove himself to Batman. Did he see Bruce as a father figure? 

“We’ve met before, haven’t we?” Tara asked. They had. They were all invited to Markovia for a gala, Tim couldn’t remember what the gala was for, but he did remember a brief meeting with the Princess. 

“Yeah at that gala, that was a long time ago though,” Tim said, his gaze was focused on the floor. 

“Wait, whose Bruce Wayne?” Jaime asked confused. 

Almost everyone looked at him with their mouths fallen open. Tim wasn’t too surprised that his friend didn’t know. After all, he lived practically on the other side of the country from Gotham. He was also in his own bubble, but no one would ever hear that come from Tim. 

“Bruce Wayne is only the richest most handsome man ever!” Traci shouted loudly, her voice bouncing off the walls. Tim and Cassandra simultaneously cringed at the sound of a friend calling their ‘dad’ handsome. Bart was quick to change the subject after that. The speedster was dying to go skating blabbing about not having gone before because of his future past. Tim was getting tired and took a seat on the couch pinching the bridge of his nose. 

“Bart the whole point of being here is to lie low and come up with a game plan,” he said, pushing the words out between his teeth. 

“And we will. Knowing all of _them_ we’ll be here forever,” Bart retorted. 

He had a point. Dick and his friends, as well as the League, always had a way of dealing with things when they were too dangerous. Their precaution was to lock everyone up. Now that Tim’s head was a tad clearer, he was glad Cass and Dick got to him before he found Deathstroke. He was grateful they were in the middle of nowhere as well because they all needed to recuperate and come up with a game plan. 

“Fine,” He couldn’t believe he agreed to Bart’s idea to take Clancy up on his offer. 

A few hours later everyone was strewn about the cabin off doing their own things. Tim was stretched out on his bed in the room down the hallway. He was bunking with Eduardo as the adults made it very clear that anyone in current or previous relationships were absolutely not allowed to be in a room together. Everyone saw the way that Bart and Eduardo looked at each other and the speedster was practically hanging off of him now. 

Tim’s fingers tapped away at the keyboard on his laptop as he used the secure servers that Bruce had set up to dig up more information on their attackers. Barbara was sending him an updated file every now and again when she found new info to add. 

The door swung open to the room and closed seconds after. Tim didn’t look up from the laptop, he already knew who it was. Eduardo fell down on the other bed that was a comfortable distance away from Tim’s. Every bedroom was set up differently. Tim’s, which he stayed in when they visited, was tucked away at the back of the cabin. There were two square windows, view obstructed by tall pine trees – he was okay with the blocked-out sunlight. The room had one queen-sized bed, which Tim occupied, and a small single bed pushed up against the wall to the left of him. Eduardo was lying on his own bed on his back awkwardly, after all he had thrown himself onto there dramatically. Tim noticed the unusually brightly coloured hoodie he had on. It was a snug fit and had the logo for a Central City high school on it. 

“Bored already?” he asked aloud, eyes refocusing on the laptop screen. 

“This reminds me of being confined to STAR Labs,” Eduardo answered bitterly. 

Tim shrugged, “Could be worse. You could be buried in a graveyard as well,” 

The other teen’s eyes went wide, and he quickly sat up. Tim’s hands stopped on the keyboard and he turned his head. “They were your friends and you act like nothing is the matter,” Eduardo hissed; his voice quiet enough so no one else could hear. 

Tim had done his mourning. He quickly molded his sadness into something useful. It gave him a motive, a reason to sit here and do everything in his power to find out who the hell Deathstroke was working with and why they were attacking them the way they were. 

“When you’ve been in this line of work for as long as I have, and seen the things I’ve seen, death is just an everyday occurrence,” 

Tim didn’t mean to sound so dark. Gotham wasn’t like the rest of the cities in America. It was jammed packed full of the darkest and most twisted individuals. He closed his eyes for a moment and tried to get rid of the horrible images that infiltrated his mind. Eduardo was silent, Tim could feel the other boys gaze lingering on him. 

“Are you okay?” Eduardo asked in a tone that was so sincere Tim wanted to cry. It was rare for people to ask Tim about himself. He was always the one asking others how they were and if they were okay. The bats tended to bury everything deep inside – hell, Tim did it maybe too much. 

He could never be like Dick, all happy and energetic twenty-four-seven. Dick had Barbara to fall back on and Tim did have Cassie, but he didn’t want to burden her with his messed-up life. A hand fell onto his shoulder and his eyes snapped open, he looked up at Eduardo who was now stood next to him. The boy’s eyebrows were drawn together, and his mouth formed a thin line – he looked concerned, or was that worry? That dark feeling tugging at his heart and filling his lungs was trying to drag him down. He took a deep breath and sucked the feeling away, burying it back down into the depths of himself. 

“I’m fine, just tired,” he answered after a moment. 

Eduardo’s hand lingered on his shoulder for a moment, giving it a comforting squeeze before falling off. “I’m going to get a snack; do you want anything?” Ed asked as he reached the doorway to the room. 

“No, I’m fine,” Tim said, his hard gaze returning to his laptop screen. 

The door opened and closed, once again he was in solitude. He sat there in silence, his fingers not moving on the keyboard. Made-up images of his dead friends were flashing through his brain. It was killing him not knowing, both Dick and Bruce refused to tell him exactly what happened. That night he snuck into Dick’s apartment wasn’t because he was sick of Bruce, it was because he needed to know. The League had reports on every deceased hero and a little hacking and anonymity in the system let him read everything he needed to read. Garfield was knocked unconscious when the beam fell from the ceiling and with all the smoke filling the room he suffocated and died within a few minutes. 

Virgil was found towards the back after the fires were properly put out. It was the same, asphyxiation from excessive inhalation of smoke. Images of beams falling and his friends choking to death haunted him. He quickly slammed the laptop shut and pushed it to the side. Tim sat up and turned, his legs hanging off the side of the bed. The room was silent with the exception of his heavy and nearly uncontrollable breathing. He squeezed his eyes closed, his hand balling in the fabric of his shirt above his heart. Horrific images always haunted him, especially at night, and they’ve been worse than this. But it was different when it was his friends and it was **real.**

“I’m fine, I’m fine. I’ll be fine,” he whispered to himself.


	13. Call Fear by thy name, Nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightmares seem to plague a certain speedster, how unfortunate.

This little get-away was really starting to irritate Bart. The first week was fun and dazzling and he did so many new things he had never done before. But now it was boring, and he was itching to escape. Being told to stay in one place for someone who, may or may not still have the ability to run across the world in a minute was frustrating. Everyone was sad and grumpy all the time. He was also struggling to keep his random speed outbursts under control. The beginning of the week when they went skating with Clancy, he nearly knocked himself out almost hitting a tree.

The only person who knew about his problem was Eduardo and he wanted to keep it that way. If Dick or Artemis found out about it, he’d be done for. Artemis would definitely have him under surveillance twenty-four-seven and Dick would have him poked and prodded and tested around the clock. This excursion they were on had him bunking in the same room as Jaime. It brought him back to the good old days when they’d have sleepovers and watch really old movies and shows all night. 

It was the middle of the night and he lied in his bed wide awake. The light from the moon would pass over his blankets every time the thick puffy clouds would roll pass. The silver rays would disappear every few minutes when they were swallowed by said clouds. Jaime snored loudly; Bart didn’t know how anyone else didn’t hear it. Bart would turn over every few minutes and squeeze his eyes closed to try and go back to sleep. He used to get nightmares of getting tortured by the Reach, or his loved ones getting killed, or him failing to save Jaime from being on mode. Lately his nightmares were of the explosion on New Year’s. 

The whisper of an explosion had him sitting up in bed and rushing out of the room. That electric feeling coursed through his veins and suddenly he was flush against the railing on the overhand of the second floor. The stairs were to his right that led downstairs. He held onto the railing tightly and lowered himself towards the ground, letting his forehead press against one of the smooth wooden bars. It was suddenly hot, and the world felt like it was spinning. His ribs ached from being slammed up against the railing at a speed he couldn’t even comprehend at the moment. 

After a minute when the dizzy feeling washed away, he stood up and released his hands from the railing, his palms were sweaty and cold now. Once he was in the kitchen, he pulled the front of his shirt up and cringed at the deep bruising that flowered his ribs. The uncontrollable bursts of speed had him crashing all too quickly into very hard surfaces. 

“What the hell happened to you hermano?” 

Bart froze in place, releasing his shirt from his hand and gaping at his now very awake friend. Jaime stood across from him on the other side of the kitchen island. He looked tired, everyone did, and worried. The speedster was quick to spin around and open the refrigerator. 

“Dude I’m fine,” he said with his face shoved into the fridge. The cool air was a welcoming feeling to his very hot face. 

“Scarab woke me up, said you left too quickly whatever the hell that means,” Jaime said, his voice closer now. 

“I was just really thirsty all of a sudden,” Bart lied, badly. 

It was difficult to lie when your friend had a sentient alien on his spine that literally informed him of everything. The thing was like a human lie detector. Jaime reached out and grabbed his arm and the sudden contact had Bart jolting to the side. One moment he was looking in the fridge and the next he had crashed into the nearby cabinets. He groaned and rubbed the back of his head and looked up at Jaime who was staring at him from where he still was next to the fridge. 

“I thought your meta-powers were on buffer,” Jaime said after snapping out of his stunned silence. 

Bart reached for anything to pull himself up, “Kinda happens randomly, so not crash.” 

Jaime rushed over and pulled the speedster to his feet, his hand coming to his chest to steady him. Bart broke the contact immediately and walked away towards the living room. It was unusual for the overly touchy speedster to reject any sort of contact. In the beginning Jaime hated it, but the excessive physical contact from Bart sort of grew on him. Jaime followed into the living room and crossed his arms as he watched the teen pace back and forth. 

“First Ed and now Jaime…” he whispered to himself as he ran a hand through his messy auburn hair. 

“Wait, Eduardo knew before me?” Jaime asked keeping his voice as low as possible. 

“Well I mean, he is my boyfriend, so it only makes sense since we’re together so much and plus he saw when it happened one time and it was a little hard to explain and -” Bart’s stressed ramblings were cut off. 

“You and Ed are _together?”_ Jaime asked, his voice growing in volume. 

At this point Bart wanted to bury himself into the deepest hole or throw himself off the highest cliff he could find. In the future nobody cared who you liked because everyone was too busy surviving the apocalypse. The past was retro in most ways and Bart quickly learned how not readily accepting some people were. Jaime looked angry. This banishment to the middle of nowhere was getting worse and worse by the minute. There was an uncomfortable silence that radiated through the air. It made Bart’s skin crawl, he couldn’t bare to look his friend in the eyes and instead stared at the carpet. 

There was a lot of things for Jaime to process in that moment, so Bart gave him the benefit of the doubt. “So, you’re…?” 

“Yeah, I like boys.” 

Another long uncomfortable silence made the air seem thick. Bart felt like he was suffocating where he stood. He stood there looking down, anxiously pulling at his fingers. Some people already knew, like Artemis. Bart never had to tell her anything, she just sort of knew. What hurt him the most was the harsh stare he felt beating down on him. If he took one look at Jaime and his face, he might burst out crying, which was why the carpet was so much more interesting. 

“If you…if you don’t want to share a room anymore then I get it,” he said quietly. Bart swallowed the lump in his throat although it was hard to rid his body of the trembling. 

He heard footsteps and he almost shattered in that moment. Jaime was walking away, Jaime was walking away, Jaime was walking away. Arms wrapped around his slightly shaking body and pulled him close. 

“I’m sorry, I just had to process everything. Why didn’t you tell me?” Jaime asked quietly. 

“I didn’t want you to hate me,” Bart mumbled against his friend’s chest. 

“¡Soy tan estúpido! I’ve been bugging you about getting a girlfriend all this time!” Jaime said berating himself. 

Bart stood there, arms uselessly at his sides, as he let his friend hug him. His face was hot, and Jaime was super sweaty. He was careful to not wrap his arms around him as much as he was dying to do so. Jaime’s back was still healing and was super sensitive when it came to contact which is why he was always lying on his stomach and shirtless in the room and when he’d have to wear a shirt it would be the baggiest thing Bart has ever seen. He understood how uncomfortable and painful it was, he’s been burned before too. 

“Dude I couldn’t ever hate you, you’re my best friend,” Jaime said, his tone endearing. 

They stood there for a few more moments, Jaime hugging him tightly and Bart standing awkwardly with his face pressed into his chest. They finally parted and Bart scratched the back of his head returning his gaze to the ground. He wouldn’t cry, Bart refused to ever cry, so he sucked the tears back in pressed the palms of his hands against his red eyes. 

“Are you okay?” Jaime asked. 

Bart looked up and smiled, “I’m crash, so crash,” 

The speedster yawned and stretched out his arms. It was still so early, and all of these emotions were making him tired. They wordlessly agreed to head back to bed. There was no point staying up when the sun was hours away from rising. Bart climbed back into his bed and turned to face the window. A storm was coming, he could feel it. The feeling deep down in his stomach, the one that made him feel sick, told him that something bad was coming their way. 

“Bart,” Jaime said quietly from across the room. He turned over in his bed and faced his friend who was staring at him from across the room. 

“I’ve been distant lately…and I’m sorry,” Jaime whispered. 

“It’s okay,” 

They both fell asleep not long after. Bart was tossing and turning in bed, a cold sweat soaking his clothes and coating his skin in a thin icy layer that glistened in the moonlight. An hour before sunrise, a fearful scream ripped its way down the hallway. Everyone was scared awake, most of them thinking something awful had happened. Bart was sitting in his bed, panting, swallowing as much air down as he could as if he had been starving for oxygen. Normally screams like this were ignored, especially since most of them were used to sleeping under the same roof – they all had nightmares. 

Eduardo pushed past the crowd that was slowly beginning to ease away from the room and entered. Bart was pale and shaking, unable to stop his heavy erratic breathing. Jaime was next to him, his hand on Bart’s shoulder as he looked down at the speedster with a frown. The weight on the bed shifted and he felt a warm hand wrap around his cold one. He met a familiar pair of dark eyes and smiled weakly. Ed whispered something in Spanish that rolled off his tongue so easily that the words alone put him more at ease. The hand on his shoulder was released, he didn’t notice. 

Fear struck Bart Allen deeply. It was his main motivation to do everything that he did in life. He’s seen life drain from people and he knows what the future could still possibly be holding. A phantom prick on his neck made him jump. He had to remind himself that what happened was in the past, no one could hurt him like that ever again – he wouldn’t let them. Ed’s other hand came to rest against the side of his face, he closed his eyes again and soaked in the feeling. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked softly. 

Bart shook his head, his hand coming up to his face to cover Ed’s, “It was just a nightmare.” 


	14. The Secrets of a Cheshire Cat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jade pays her sister an unexpected visit and dispels some secrets that have been eating her alive.

There was a knock at the front door in the middle of the night, harsh and impatient. Artemis stretched in her bed and rolled over sitting up and sliding out from underneath the heavy warm blankets. She walked much like a zombie into the hallway, where she saw Will doing the same thing. They shared a wordless exchange; she waved her hand and he turned on his heel heading back into his bedroom at the other end of the hall. The knocking was insistent and only got louder as she entered the main room of the house.

She crossed between the kitchen and the living room to the front door. A yawn escaped her lips when she came up to the front door, she rolled her shoulders and reached for the baton in the umbrella stand in the corner, just in case. The door squeaked as it opened, and a hand shot out pressing firmly against her mouth. The figure was tall and lean wearing baggy clothing and a baseball cap. They looked up and Artemis’ eyes widened. Her sister removed her hand and brought her finger to her own lips, a vow of silence. 

Jade slid past her and inside, not even bothering to wipe her wet shoes on the carpet as she trailed through the house into the kitchen. She shut the door and returned the baton to the umbrella stand and followed her estranged sister to the kitchen. 

“Where have you been?” Artemis whispered pulling her sister into a tight hug. It has been too long since she last saw her or even heard any mention of the infamous Cheshire Cat. For a time, Artemis thought she had died. Jade stood stiffly in the embrace, allowing her sister this once to hug her. 

It lasted a second and Artemis pulled away, immediately crossing her arms and glaring at her sister. 

“What the hell? The last time I saw you, you told me that ‘family life isn’t for you’ and you dropped off the face of the Earth!” Artemis hissed, keeping her voice as quiet as possible. Jade rolled her eyes and reached into the fruit bowl and grabbed an apple, taking a bite and swallowing. 

“I saw the attack on your kids’ playhouse, didn’t know we were killing kids now,” she muttered darkly. 

Suddenly the whole world around the blonde stopped. Her brain replayed her sisters’ words over and over in her head. The next thing she knew the two of them had knives at their throats. 

“You’re responsible for this. M’gann’s brother is dead!” Artemis whispered, her voice cracking from the raw emotions she was feeling. Her grip on the kitchen knife didn’t loosen as she continued to hold it against her sisters’ neck. Jade did the same; it reminded her of the times their father would have them play his cruel version of ‘chicken’. 

“Do you think I’d be here if I didn’t care?” Jade snarled. 

There was a noise. The sound of a door opening and tiny footsteps scurrying across the hardwood floor. Jade lowered the knife and stepped back into the dark shadowed part of the kitchen by the wall. 

“Auntie Mouse!” Lian yelled as she ran over to the blonde standing at the counter. Artemis smiled, the knife behind her on the counter, and bent down to pick up the small child. 

“You should be in bed you little troublemaker! You wouldn’t want your daddy to find out you’re up this late, do you?” Artemis asked hearing the child giggle. 

“I came to protect you from the monster,” Lian admitted.

“Monster? I don’t see any monster,” Artemis said doing a three-sixty before laughing quietly. 

She looked down at the child in her arms and smiled brightly. Lian was something special, she wished Jade could see that. The older Lian got the more distant she became to Jade, soon she would forget about her completely. 

Lian leaned into her ear, cupping her tiny hands and whispered, “the monster hiding in the dark.” All the colour drained from her face when she heard the words leave the child’s mouth. She couldn’t be talking about Jade, could she? 

“Don’t be silly, there’s no monster,” Artemis said shaking her head, “let’s get you back to bed.” She continued, walking back to the little girl’s room. 

The walls within were painted a soft red, darker underneath the blankets of shadows now coating them in the darkness. Lian yawned in her arms as Artemis walked over to the tiny bed and lowered her onto it. She sat on the edge of the bed and tucked the girl in before kissing her forehead. “Love you Auntie Mouse,” Lian giggled quietly. 

“Love you too,” Artemis whispered with a smile, “now get some sleep.” 

She sat there for a few moments with her hand lightly smoothing through the child’s hair until she fell asleep. Jade was lingering in the doorway. Artemis could feel her sister watching her, feel the jealousy wafting into the room. Once Lian was sound asleep Artemis stood and quietly crept out of the room, closing the door behind her. 

“We need to talk somewhere more private,” Jade said from beside her. She was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed and the Cheshire Cat mask covering her face. Artemis nodded, wordlessly agreeing to her sisters request and leaving with her through the front door. 

The parking lot of a closed shopping mall worked well. 

It was quiet and desolate, just how they both liked it. Jade was in the back seat, slouching with her arms still folded over her chest. The blonde adjusted the rearview mirror, focusing it on her sister in the back. 

“Do you always have my daughter running outside into danger?” Jade asked, breaking the tense silence that had filled the vehicle during the ride over. 

“Cut the crap Jade. We both know you stopped caring when you left for good. Now give me one reason why I shouldn’t haul your ass to jail right now,” Artemis hissed. 

“Because I have information you and your hero friends so badly need,” Jade retorted. 

Artemis could feel her skin crawling. Her sister seemed all too chilled out for being someone who is partially responsible for the death of a kid. In the past she vouched for her, gave her the benefit of the doubt but in this moment, Artemis was holding back the urge to strangle her sister. 

She turned back in the seat, “You killed kids! Children!” she screamed. 

Jade’s posture straightened and she ripped her mask off, “No! It wasn’t supposed to be like that!” 

The atmosphere shifted as Jade sniffled and wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. It had been a long time since Artemis had seen her sister cry like this. Her face hardened and she dropped her hand back into her lap and looked out the window. Her gaze was hollow as she stared at something far too distant for her mind to comprehend. “With the Light falling apart, it was time for the Shadow’s to take over. The world was going to change and at the helm of this change is the Demon’s Head.” 

“Demon’s Head?” 

“Ra’s Al Ghul. Your little team of kids has crossed the demon too much. They overstepped their boundaries and needed to be taught a lesson. Slade and I, we were hired to hurt them, and as a Shadow it was my duty to serve – the pay was a bonus.” 

“Jade, what have you done?” 

Jade’s head quickly turned to look Artemis in her eyes. She shook her head and reached out grabbing the blonde’s hand and squeezing it. The sudden contact made goosebumps rise along Artemis’s skin – Jade was never the touchy feely type unless something was very wrong. “You have to listen to me. Ra’s, his daughter, and Slade are out for their blood, your blood – everyone associated with that team. They will kill all of them Artemis,” Jade leaned in and whispered. 

“Why are you telling me all of this now?” Artemis asked quietly. 

“Because I’m scared,” Jade answered, her voice barely above a whisper. 

They sat there for a few moments longer reveling in the silence and the new information. Artemis never would have guessed that the Al Ghul’s were up to this. The Outsiders were so public, she never knew them to go toe to toe with anyone related to Ra’s Al Ghul. There was something the teenagers weren’t telling them. 

“I have to go,” Jade said suddenly. She ripped her hand away from Artemis and grabbed her mask, slipping it back on over her face. Artemis jumped out of the car just as she did in time to grab Jade’s wrist. 

“What did the Outsiders do that Ra’s wants them dead so badly?” she asked quickly. 

Jade looked back, “ask them yourself.” 

Jade ripped her hand out of Artemis’s and dropped a smoke pellet. The surrounding area exploded into a puff of dark smoke concealing the woman’s getaway. Artemis coughed and got back into the car. It was surrounded by the thick smoke leaving the inside almost dark. She fumbled for her phone and upon grabbing it she called the first person in her contacts list. They answered groggily just as she was swinging out of the parking lot. 

“What?” 

“I have a lead, but I need Bart, now,”


	15. Repercussions From the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Outsiders are keeping a close guarded secret and the adults are keen on extracting it from them.

Time started to move by fast the longer they all spent in the cottage. The world went past them by with no repercussions. For once they were allowed to be kids which felt… odd, yet welcoming. They joked, played games, went on excursions through the forest or across the frozen lake, and even got up to mischief when able to. Everyone was strewn about the cabin. From what Bart remember, most of them were downstairs congregating in the living room and he recalled Cassie and Tim going for a walk outside in the snow.

Their locations weren’t really at the forefront of his mind. He was stretched across Eduardo’s bed, wrapped up in a ton of blankets. The two were watching a film, one that Ed seemed to really enjoy as he was adamant on introducing the speedster to it. He was far too occupied to pay attention to the movie. Bart was busy staring at Ed who was absolutely entranced by the characters moving on the screen across the room from them. Different colours splashed against his tanned face, dark eyes holding the reflections of the television – Bart was thoroughly entertained to say the least. It had become a hobby of his recently to memorize the details of his boyfriend’s face. 

Maybe it was the lingering fear from his past in the back of his head nagging him about how easy it is to forget an important face. The faces of old friends and family that had long died in his cursed ‘future’ were lost to him. Even his parents’ faces were beginning to fade in his memory. He glanced down at their intertwined fingers, Ed’s hand was heavy and warm in his. Bart narrowed his eyes and studied the faint scars on his own hand. There was only so much he could hide underneath long-sleeved shirts and pants. Amidst the sadness and fear and pain inside of him was a spark of light. It seemed to ignite whenever he looked at Ed and it used to happen whenever he was around Jaime, although that spark was growing dimmer and dimmer by the day. 

Ed turned his head to look at him and a soft smile appeared on his lips. He dragged their hands up and pressed a kiss onto the top of Bart’s. 

“You’re distracted,” Ed murmured against pale skin. 

“How can you possibly think _I_ can sit here and focus on a movie, when you are sitting right next to me?” Bart asked batting his eyes at the dark-haired boy. 

Eduardo rolled his eyes at Bart’s comment and untangled their hands. Ed’s hand fell in Bart’s hair ruffling it, a smile still lighting up his face. That spark returned inside of him and it mixed in with that _other_ feeling. Time began to lag, move slower, and he took the chance to drag Eduardo’s face down to him. Time caught up with him as soon as Ed’s lips were on his, sparks of electricity danced along his body and around his fingers. The kiss was everything and nothing all at once. There was heat and intensity and a longing feeling that Bart couldn’t quite describe. Ed kissed him until he was left dizzy and his brain was buzzing. The boy pulled back and stared down at him, a smirk dragging at the corner of his mouth. 

“Are you still distracted? Or do I need to kiss you again?” he teased. 

“Another one would be crash.” Bart said, breathless. 

He leaned down again and Bart felt the warm pair of lips against his once again. This one was quick and sweet. It didn’t have the same intensity as the last one did. Bart’s had few relationships in his life. He’s kissed a girl before, a few years back at a school party during a game of spin the bottle. It didn’t feel right. The only past relationship he had was fleeting and with a boy from his school, Brett Drummer. He was blond, blue eyed, and played for the football team. It was with Brett that he realized that he liked boys in a way that he couldn’t apply to girls. They didn’t last long, a few weeks at the most. After that his crush on Jaime flourished and not long after, Eduardo popped up in his life. 

There was a knock at the door and just when it started to open a flash of golden light shone and the weight on top of him disappeared. He sat up quickly and looked beside him at Ed whose face was flushed a bright shade of crimson. It was Traci to both their surprise. She looked nervous and her grip on the door was tight. “Artemis and the rest are here, and they need to talk to you Bart,” she said quietly. The quiet tone of her voice sent a chill down his spine. Traci was never quiet; she was always loud and energetic much like Cassie was. He slowly nodded his head and climbed off the bed. Ed grabbed his hand and jumped off the bed as well. 

“Let’s go,” He said walking with Bart to the door. 

It was dark downstairs. The curtains were drawn across all the windows not allowing anyone outside to look in. They were downstairs; Artemis, Dick, Kaldur, Connor, and M’gann. The rest of his friends were around, lingering. They were watching and wondering why Bart of all people was called down. As soon as Artemis caught sight of him her eyes narrowed, and her jaw tightened. 

“Sit,” she instructed, pointing to the empty couch in front of the group of them. He felt the hair on the back of his neck stand as he walked around and slowly took a seat. Eduardo joined him and for once he was glad to have someone with him in whatever mess he was in. 

Did they find out that his powers were back? Did they know that his powers were different, more amped up than before? 

“Ra’s Al Ghul. What do you know?” Dick snapped from the right side of Artemis. The look on his face didn’t seem too forgiving and Bart felt the cold wash over his body. 

Suddenly he was very nervous. His face was pale, and his green eyes searched the room for his friends faces. Jaime’s head moved slowly, shaking his head ever so slightly. He was being interrogated. The adults picked him specifically and judging by the look on Artemis’s face she believed he would spill everyone’s secrets. 

Bart’s whole demeanor changed in an instant. If someone were to blink, they would miss it. He sat back in the couch and brought his free arm around his head to rest. People have interrogated him many times before. The Reach had their fair share of interrogation days as well. “Ra’s Al Ghul? Sounds like a cartoon character,” he said raising an eyebrow at them. 

“Ra’s Al Ghul is the head of the League of Shadows. He’s one of the most dangerous men on the planet,” Dick answered. 

Bart shrugged, “So is he a ninja or...?” 

“We have reason to believe that the Outsiders had a run in with Ra’s Al Ghul without our knowledge,” Kaldur said, his calm voice a welcoming change from the stern tones Artemis and Dick were using. 

The hand intertwined with his at his side tightened and Bart quickly glanced to his side where Ed sat. On the outside his facial expression was flat, not an emotion in sight. But Bart knew that Ed knew what they were asking about. It was a vow of silence they all took. His friends were all silent. No one was going to speak about it. 

“So is this an interrogation,” he pulled his hand out from Eduardo’s and leaned forwards, his eyes growing dark, “cause I can promise you that anything you say or do to me is nothing, and probably nothing compared to what I’ve had done to me,” 

“Bart this isn’t an interrogation. We just have some questions,” M’gann said softly, she looked distressed. 

He rolled his eyes, “I don’t know who this Al Ghul guy is. Never heard of him in my timeline,” 

That was a lie. He’s heard of him plenty of times. Ra’s Al Ghul used to work with the Reach under the table. The Al Ghul’s held a lazarus pit, something that the Reach very much wished to study, and in exchange the Reach allowed him and his people to live. Artemis turned her attention to the rest of the teens hanging around the room. They all had the same expression, eyes hard and mouths in a thin line. 

“What did you do?” she asked, her tone less harsh than before now that she was speaking to everyone. Artemis wasn’t usually mean, but Bart knew that she could flip it on like flipping a switch. 

“We can’t help you if you don’t tell us,” Connor said, his eyes focused solely on Bart. 

Silence. 

“Rooms. Now.” Dick sighed pinching the bridge of his nose. 

They left quietly and headed upstairs. All of the doors closed in unison having a slamming sound make its way downstairs to the older heroes. Bart fell back on his bed and pressed his fists against his forehead and blew out a frustrated breath through gritted teeth. 

“This isn’t good hermano,” Jaime said from his bed across the room. Bart stayed silent trying to process everything that happened and everything that this meant. He didn’t think this would come back to bite them in the ass so quickly. 

Jaime muttered something, most likely arguing quietly with the scarab. Recently Khaji Da started speaking to Jaime again. For that, Bart was glad. Of course, it was still repairing the damage done to it, but it was better off now than before. 

“They always come after me, always think I’m the weak one of the group,” Bart said, his eyes hollow. 

“If we tell them they’ll die, and if we don’t then we die,” Jaime said paying no mind to Bart’s current dilemma. 

The door opened and their friends quietly flooded into the room. “I’ve got a better idea,” Tim said, his voice quiet.


	16. The Dead May Not Lie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Outsiders secret history with the Al Ghul's goes as follows...

It was only a handful of them that night. Tim, Bart, Eduardo, Jaime, Cassie, and Garfield. They went when no one would notice. The plan was really stupid but then again, they were foolish children. Sometimes people looked past the fact that they were only teenagers. They were children doing an adult’s job. Truthfully it was Gar who orchestrated this in the pursuit to get Brion back. He had this belief that everyone was redeemable, and they all agreed that something felt a little off with how he dealt with the Baron. Violet and Tara had been inconsolable for days at the sudden loss of Brion.

The Outsiders were going to help. Tim was there unofficially of course; Bruce would never let him be affiliated with the Outsiders. “I hope your intel is right, otherwise you owe me a whole bag of -” 

“- Bart shut up!” everyone hissed through the comms. 

Tim heard the speedster mumble something incoherent through the line. He was hidden in a tree covered by the newly sprouted leaves. The bright yellow and red Kid Flash costume could be seen below. Bart still had yet to switch into his stealth gear. They were currently outside one of the many Al Ghul mansions strewn throughout the world. It was secretly owned of course, but Tim had the knack for hacking and looking into other people’s business. A flash of golden light appeared next to him and Eduardo in all black gave him a small nod as he settled on the thick branch next to him. “For a place in the middle of nowhere there sure is a lot of security,” Ed said. 

“How many?” Tim asked. 

“Twenty-three outside guarding the perimeter. I can teleport inside and do recon from there,” Ed suggested. 

“No, scarab says there’s more. Way more,” Jaime cut in over the comms. 

There had only been a few times that Tim had run into Ra’s Al Ghul and the League of Shadows. The Shadows weren’t like any other regular goons they were all highly skilled individuals that were very capable of murder. 

“This is so moded, I’m going in,” Bart sputtered out. Tim looked down to the ground quickly and saw a red and yellow blur rush through the trees. 

“Kid! Bart!” Tim hissed into the earpiece. There was no response, in fact there was only static from the speedster’s end. 

“¡Maldita sea! ¡Se va a matar!” Ed cursed to no avail. 

“He’s not going to get himself killed. Hurt…maybe, but Bart’s too smart to get himself killed,” Jaime responded. 

“We still need to get him back. Ra’s isn’t someone to be left alone with,” Cassie spoke up. 

The blonde was high enough up to not be seen by anyone from the ground. Cassie was right though; Bart was smart not stupid – although he did act like it sometimes, but maybe that was just the impulsiveness that came with being a speedster. “Okay, comms units aren’t going to work when we get in, so stay quiet, stay hidden. Do not come into direct contact with Ra’s no matter what,” Tim instructed. 

“Okay.” The rest replied in unison. 

The mansion was large and very lavish. It almost reminded Tim of the manor, if it weren’t for the green and red drapery strewn about. It was much more colourful than the manor to say the least. The reason they were here in the first place was that there was reason to believe that Ra’s Al Ghul and the Shadows were somehow tied to Markovia. Tim didn’t know how yet, but he was hellbent on finding out. Especially when Dick and the others wouldn’t act on Tim’s suspicion. 

He crept through the large house, pressing himself against the wall when a patrol walked by. Everyone was searching for Bart; he was just hoping the speedster hadn’t gotten himself caught. Tim swung around the corner and headed towards the main room. The front doors burst open and Talia Al Ghul came rushing inside. Bruce had spoken about Talia before, they’ve had multiple flings by the guess of it. She looked angry and just as she turned her head Tim ducked behind a nearby plant. A few shadows walked in through the door behind her, two of them closed the doors and stood guard while the others waited for her word. She spoke in Arabic to them, Tim had yet to fully master the language, but he understood bits and pieces of it. 

The Shadows split off and headed down the corridor across from him. His eyes followed Talia’s figure as she headed in the opposite direction up the staircase. He looked up to see Cassie in the air following Talia. He went for the earpiece and once he pressed it realized from the static that he couldn’t speak. 

“Shit,” he whispered, he glanced to the side where the guards stood at the doors and then back up to Talia who was nearing the top of the staircase. Tim couldn’t risk being seen from the angle he was at and initiating a fight in the open with the two Shadows was dangerous. 

The Boy Wonder found himself outside of the mansion grappling up onto a nearby balcony. He sat crouched in front of the balcony door picking the lock whilst checking to make sure he wasn’t being followed. Just as he pushed the thin glass door open, he dove back, birdarangs already in between his fingers ready to be thrown. Garfield sprouted from the ground and held his hand out for him. Tim took it and the green kid pulled him to his feet. “I haven’t found Kid yet, Blue Beetle and El Dorado are gone too and -” 

“- Cassie was just following Talia Al Ghul. We need to stop her before she gets her ass kicked,” Tim interrupted. 

Garfield nodded and morphed down into a little robin, perching himself on Tim’s shoulder. Boy Wonder rolled his eyes and the little bird chirped in laughter. They headed down the corridor to the right, Gar flying ahead and transforming into a wasp along the way to keep lookout. Tim turned the corner just as Gar did and almost had his head blasted off from his shoulders. Jaime’s eyes were wide, and he quickly lowered the canon. 

“¡Lo siento!” Jaime apologized. 

“Está bien, solo ten cuidado,” Tim replied smoothly. 

“You speak Spanish?” Gar and Jaime asked at the same time. 

“I speak five languages.” He said quietly. 

The two seemed baffled but said nothing after that. They needed to find Bart and at least a shred of proof that Ra’s or even the Shadows were tied to Markovia and the recent turn in events. “Cassie’s following Talia, you two head out to find her while I try, and grab Bart before Ra’s does,” Tim instructed yet again. At this point he had taken the leader role for this ‘mission’ of theirs. They separated and headed in opposite directions away from him. A group of Shadows turned the corner and Tim slipped into a room on his right, closing the door softly behind him. His hand lingered on the doorknob and he let out a breath of relief. “You’ve led your friends astray Timothy Drake,” a composed voice said from behind. 

Tim whipped around with his bo-staff already out and extended. There were pillows on the ground and linen hanging from the ceiling. The room was dimly lit by orange candles strewn about. A tall figure moved amongst the linen, their shadow travelling like a ghost. 

“Ra’s,” he growled; he’d recognize that voice anywhere. Ra’s was always very composed yet had an underlying twistedness to him. Tim slowly walked further into the room and hit one of the linen sheets out of the way with his staff. 

“Your quick little friend seems to know much more than he’s letting on. He knows his way around this place, as if he’s been here before which I assure you, he’s not,” Ra’s said, sounding like he was behind Tim. 

The teen turned around sharply slapping the bo-staff down into the floor. Ra’s was gone again, disappearing into thin air. The man’s shadow was cast on the wall in front of Tim, his figure swallowing the door the vigilante had entered through. 

“Your friends are being subdued as we speak, now why are you here?” Tim turned around once more and was finally face to face with the man. Ra’s Al Ghul was menacing with his tall stature, long face matching with his sharp nose and eyes. The man drew his sword and pointed it at Tim’s chest. 

“I take it the adults are oblivious to your whereabouts.” Ra’s said, glaring down at the child. 

Tim was silent. 

Ra’s Al Ghul was a man who taught lessons and it was key for Tim to just sit back and listen to whatever the tyrant had to say. 

“I’m speaking to you boy. Why are you here?” Ra’s hissed. Tim felt the tip of the blade pierce the chest plate on his suit and he sucked in a sharp breath. 

“Markovia, what do you know?” Tim asked. The man seemed to be taken aback by the question as if Tim was supposed to be here for any other reason. It was strange. 

“I know plenty about Markovia. It is a rich country and if I recall a former friend of yours has gone astray and turned to murder,” Ra’s answered, he swiveled around and moved back between the sheets. 

Ra’s stopped and looked back at Tim, “walk with me,” he motioned with his hand to follow. 

Tim did as he was told, interested in what this man had to tell him. Ra’s looked so much older and fearsome. It must have been from the effects of using the Lazarus Pit over and over again. Ra’s stopped at the wall and pressed his hand against a panel which made the wall recede, revealing a dark stone corridor lit with torches. It was very archaic Tim thought as they stepped inside. Tim noted that the wall moved back into place, now entrapping him wherever Ra’s was leading him. He pulled out a small detonation device and pressed it against the stone wall before moving on. 

“I have great admiration for the Detective. Do you believe he is a Saint?” Ra’s asked, his hands folded behind his back and the sword sheathed at his waist. 

“No, of course not,” Tim answered truthfully. 

The hallway started to become thinner and the torches far fewer in between. It began to spiral down and soon they hit a staircase that headed deeper into the mansion. 

“Do you trust your adult companions? Do you trust your Detective?” Ra’s asked continuing deeper down the stairs. It suddenly got colder, and a chill ran across Tim’s skin. Ra’s Al Ghul was a tricky man, but he knew not to fight him. Even at the best of times, Bruce still struggled to fight against the Demon’s Head. Tim opened his mouth to answer the man’s question but suddenly found no words coming from his mouth. 

Ra’s smirked and glanced back at the boy, “You follow your Detective blindly as well as your hero ‘friends’. You of all people should know Timothy, do not trust anyone in this life. Your speedy friend, Bartholomew is it, already seems to know that.” 

Ra’s was playing with his mind, making him second guess everything. A green glow suddenly began to fill the staircase. Soon it practically swallowed everything including Tim, bathing him in acidic green light. 

“Do you know about the tracker the Detective has in your arm?” Ra’s asked pausing in front of a large door. He pressed his large hand against it and looked back at the boy, his eyes were ignited by the green colour. The man reached out and grabbed Tim’s left arm and turned it, so his palm was facing the ceiling. The boy said nothing, he didn’t know about the tracker. He always wondered how Bruce managed to find him so easily. 

“You put your faith in a man that doesn’t trust you,” Ra’s growled dropping Tim’s arm. 

The heavy door was pushed open and they entered a large room, Shadows bowing as Ra’s walked past. His friends were in there with inhibitor collars strapped around their necks. Talia was glaring down at the group with a sword in her hand, her dark brows knit together to give her a more intense look. 

“Robin!” Cassie yelled but was quickly struck across the face by Talia. 

“Talia, we should be gentle with our guests’ fragile friends,” Ra’s said softly. 

Eduardo barked something in Spanish at the man who quickly replied in a dark tone, Ra’s was not a person to threaten or toy with. Now that Tim thought about it, coming here was a very bad idea. 

“You’re familiar with the properties of the Lazarus Pit, right?” Ra’s asked walking up to the large green pit behind his friends. Tim glanced over and noticed Jaime fidgeting, he must’ve been speaking to the Scarab about the collar. Ra’s seemed to notice as well because with the snap of his fingers Talia pressed a button on a small remote Tim now realized she had concealed in her pocket. Jaime was screaming and grasping at the collar before falling onto his side continuing to scream. 

“Lady, if you don’t stop hurting my buddy Blue, I’m gonna have kick your as-” 

“Kid shut up!” Tim yelled. 

His friends dragged their gaze away from Jaime who was still wailing, Tim noticed the blue and black armour beginning to retract, and looked to him. Ra’s leisurely strolled over to Jaime and looked down at the writhing kid on the ground. 

“I do not tolerate disobedient children, do you understand?” Ra’s boomed loudly. There was a silence, Jaime was still clutching at the collar around his neck. Talia pressed another button turning up the voltage and he screamed louder. 

Ra’s squatted down next to the boy, “do you understand?” he repeated, quieter this time. 

“Yes!” Jaime yelled, his voice growing hoarse. 

Ra’s stood and Talia pressed another button and Jaime screamed so loud that they all screamed, and then he stopped moving. He was covered in sweat and staring straight ahead into the void. 

“You, you…” There was nothing Tim could say, he was at a loss for words. 

“The Detective doesn’t respect you the way I do, you’re very much expendable just like the last one. The Lazarus Pit holds a certain healing factor, one which many people envy. Others like your dear Detective, wish to destroy it,” Ra’s explained, not even batting an eye. 

“You killed him!” Bart yelled lunging at Talia. 

She pressed another button and Tim watched Bart fall to his knees, his fingers curling up into fists. Bart was shaking but he didn’t make a sound, he looked up at Talia with an irritable smile. 

“Is that…is that the best you can do?” he huffed grabbing for her leg. Talia kicked him in the face and Tim heard Cassie scream. His friends weren’t used to being so powerless. 

“Ra’s stop this, your mind is poisoned!” Tim yelled trying to reason with the man. “Stop! Don’t hurt him!” Ed yelled to Talia who went to kick Bart again. 

How did this go so wrong so quickly? A simple recon turned into the death of a teammate and maybe even more of them. Garfield was uncharacteristically silent. He wasn’t saying anything, his eyes were still focused on Jaime lying on the ground a meter away from him. Tim reached into his utility belt and pulled out a handful of explosive beads. He looked to Eduardo who looked back at him with a small nod. Cassie seemed to catch on as well because the two of them started yelling and drawing Ra’s’ attention away from Tim who quietly crept towards the pit. A hand grabbed the back of his shoulder, “You should know better than to try and trick me boy.” Ra’s said in his ear. 

There was a sound like sounded like someone had sliced into a fruit. The beads fell from his hand and tapped against the stone ground. He looked down to see the end of the sword sticking through his chest. It was glistening and covered in blood. Cassie screamed and he felt Ra’s push against his shoulder sliding the blade out. His legs went weak and he fell onto his side watching everything blearily. Cassie had run over to him, even without the super-strength she was still strong enough to break away from Talia. His face was wet, was that her tears or his own? It got dark and cold. 

**“What happened after that?”**

They were all crammed into the back of the van they used to take up to the cottage. They snuck out the back windows while the adults were talking below. They couldn’t drag them into this mess not right now. So, Tim was driving them all someplace that only he knew. No one else would be able to find them.


	17. Round and Round the Driver Goes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They're driving, Tim's driving really, and it has been hours. They're all getting irritable, Bart especially, and it is only then that they realize they're being followed.

The brakes on the van were slammed and the vehicle went skidding through the snow before turning to the side until they were facing the opposite direction. Bart noticed how white Tim’s knuckles were from the death grip on the steering wheel. Cassie was in the front seat next to Tim with her hand on his shoulder. They all sat there quietly and the few that weren’t at the ‘mission’ were left shocked.

“But Tim is alive,” Violet said confused. 

Bart began fidgeting with his fingers, “The Lazarus Pit has healing properties that can go as far as revive the dead. Cassie threw the beads in the pit and they exploded. Talia was pissed and was beating the shit out of me, but I mean what else is new? Ed pushed her off of me and broke the remote to disable the collars. The whole building shook and fell on top of us. When the rumbling stopped Gar saw that a sliver of the pit was left so we took the chance and threw Tim and Jaime in, but Ra’s was still alive, barely…” 

Cassie cut in, “-Gar was so angry and hateful, I’ve never seen him like that before. He went up to Ra’s, he was pinned underneath concrete and was trying to pry himself out to get to the pit, to try and save it. But Gar…” 

“Beastboy destroyed the rest of the pit and Ra’s said he’d kill us. We left and we weren’t going to speak of it ever again,” Ed finished for her. 

There was silence and Bart felt Ed’s chin on his shoulder as he leaned over the back of Bart’s seat. Flashes of that night stung his memory. Images of Jaime’s still body and the sound of Tim’s whimpering when the sword penetrated his chest. “Brother,” Cassandra said, they all looked back at her. Tim snapped out of whatever daze he was in and did as well. This was the first time she had spoken, or at least the first time Bart had heard her speak. 

“I need a knife,” Tim blurted out. Cassandra reluctantly supplied him with one and they watched as the Boy Wonder plunged it into his forearm. 

“What are you doing?” Cassie yelled reaching for the knife. 

“Tracker,” Tim replied. 

Bart watched as Tim dug around with the blade and then stuck his fingers in to pull out a small device. He opened the door and chucked it out into the nearby snowbank. 

“Jaime, I need you to staple it closed,” Tim said, holding his bleeding arm back into the van. The teen stared at him in horror before the armour slid down his arm. Small blue staple-pins were pressed into the teens arm and he didn’t even wince. Bart knew the feeling. After being through so much pain and torture the little things felt like nothing but an irritating prick. 

“Did Garfield know what he was getting himself into when he decided that?” Tim asked, they were driving again. 

“No,” Cassie answered, her gaze focused on her lap. 

“You should’ve left me dead,” Tim said looking at Bart in the rearview mirror. 

He nodded. Tim was right. They should’ve left him dead, maybe even Jaime too, but Bart wasn’t thinking straight back then. He and Garfield and Cassie – hell, ALL of them made a mistake that night. But Jaime was lying on the ground staring into nothingness with his eyes glossed over in the way his parents looked when they were murdered. Bart couldn’t take another death, not another hit like that, so he agreed alongside Gar for the deal to save them. Ra’s Al Ghul was a fool to make a deal with children but then again, they were fools to make a deal with Ra’s Al Ghul. 

“He’s not going to stop until we’re all dead,” Tim said. 

“Then we’ll fight him and win,” Eduardo snapped back; his voice rough in Bart’s ear. 

“We’re going to die, again,” Jaime mumbled, covering his face with his hands. 

“How’s your arm?” Cassie asked in the front. Bart tilted his head to the side, eyes catching a glimpse to the blood-soaked sleeve stuck to Tim’s arm. 

“It’s fine,” Tim said, voice flat as he stared ahead at the road. 

It went back to silence. Bart hated the silence and how quiet everyone was. He wanted laughter and jokes and embarrassing stories – he wanted it to be like at the tower before it was blown up. Another half an hour went by and they were still driving. The road was empty except for them and one other poor sucker that was behind them. 

“What are we even doing?” he yelled throwing his hands into the air. Bart was irritated. Tim wasn’t one to openly share a plan. Did he even have a plan? Hell if Bart knew. They looked back at him, even Tim glanced back in the mirror. His face flushed red and he crossed his arms looking down embarrassed. 

“We’re going somewhere…” Jaime said, although he trailed off confused. 

“This is so stupid! We’re in the middle of nowhere and Robin – no, excuse me, **Tim** won’t tell us where the hell we’re going!” he yelled back. 

This drive was slowly eating away at everyone. Tim glanced back in the mirror glaring at him. 

“I passed our destination already, we’re being followed,” Tim answered, returning his attention to the road as if it was nothing. Before they all turned around to look Cass shook her head. 

“Ed, I want you to stay with Bart, keep him from getting himself killed,” Tim instructed; his tone had hardened into his ‘leader’ voice. 

“You’re benching me from an ambush? So not crash!” he yelled. 

The vehicle behind them started flashing their lights. It was a police cruiser. “It’s a policeman?” Violet asked looking out the window as they pulled over to the side of the road. 

“The cruiser isn’t registered with the law enforcement in the area.” Tim said flashing his phone to them in the back. 

The cruiser pulled up behind them and stopped. The air got heavy and Bart rolled his shoulders and looked back out the back window. They all still had their glamour charms on. How would they be found already? Then again, this was Ra’s Al Ghul and he remembered how easily he saw through Artemis’ glamour charm back when she and Kaldur were undercover. The man was huge, dressed in an officer’s uniform. He walked up to the car slowly and knocked on the driver’s side window. Bart looked over to Cass who had pulled out a small knife, flipping it in her hand and tightening her grip around it. 

Everything started moving slow and Bart gulped. The rush of energy and electricity struck him like lightning. He turned in his seat and noticed the rocket barreling towards them. His face went white as a sheet and he nearly stopped breathing. 

“No, not again!” he yelled, phasing out of the vehicle until he was outside standing next to it. He’s seen Grandpa move bullets out of the way, he’s done it a few times himself, but he’s never detoured anything bigger than that. Bart looked between the vehicle with all his friends and the rocket that was launched from – from the tree line? 

He walked up to the rocket and tapped his finger against the front of it as it inched by ever so slowly. If he could push Ed out of the way at hyper speed, then he could move this rocket shell. It was much easier to move a person because they themselves aren’t moving too fast but flying objects were difficult and the faster, they’re moving the harder to detour. He took a few steps back and stopped looking dead ahead at the large shell. 

“Alright Bart Allen, you’ve done worse, moved harder, this is nothing. It’s not like your friends and boyfriends lives are at stake – you totally got this,” he told himself. 

There was a flash and time sped up. There was an explosion in the field next to the car, rocking it. Bart was standing next to the car with a Shadow and an officer unconscious next to him. He was hunched over with his hands bracing against his knees as he panted drawing in as much air as possible. His leg ached but he ignored the annoying throbbing pain. The driver’s door opened, and Tim hopped out slamming it behind him. 

“What the hell was that? I thought your speed was gone?” Bart raised his hand to stop Tim from bombarding him with anymore questions. 

“It kinda is, kinda isn’t. I can’t control it and it really isn’t crash,” Bart sputtered. 

Bart took a step forward and nearly fell. His leg hurt a lot worse than he thought it would. Then again, he had never pushed himself like that before. It was Jaime that was at his side instead of Ed. “You don’t look too hot hermano,” Jaime said, Bart could hear the worry in his voice. 

“What do you mean Jaime? I’m always hot,” he replied with a smirk. 

“We should get going before any more of them show up,” Tim said motioning to all of them for them to get back into the car. 

The car ride wasn’t much further. Tim drove backwards a few kilometers and turned down a covered side road. It was shielded from regular view from the brush of the overhanging pine trees. The dirt road was small and windy, to Bart it seemed to go on forever. Every jostle of the vehicle made him clench his teeth just a little bit harder from the pain that would shoot through his leg. Most of the road, if you could even call it a road, was overgrown with leafless bushes and trees. It obviously hasn’t been used in a very long time. 

They came to a small opening and up to a tiny log cabin. It wasn’t as luxurious as the Wayne’s cabin they were in prior, but it was shelter. The car rolled to a stop and Tim pulled the gear into park before climbing out. Ed helped Bart out and slung his arm around his waist pulling him close to help him walk to the door. The pine trees towering above them kept causing fleeting snowstorms whenever the wind would blow. Cassie tugged on the rusty doorknob, the door didn’t so much as budge. While Tim wandered off to the side of the porch Bart took the chance to look at the cabin. The windows were dusty, one of them was cracked, leaves and snow covered the porch, the paint covering outer walls was flaked – it used to be a pale blue. 

“Where are we?” Tara piped up, she had her arms wrapped around herself and her face was flushed red from the cold. 

Tim pulled out a small key from underneath a torn pillow on one of the benches, he held it up to them, “My old cottage, well my parent’s old cottage. I haven’t been here since I was ten or eleven,” he said while twisting the key in the lock. He pushed the door open and the cold air rushed inside filling every inch of the cottage. 

All of them crammed inside and closed the door relishing in the stillness of the air, Bart especially. For once he was glad to be still. The winter was the worst time for being a speedster because running through the cold air was terrible and it felt like tiny needles piercing his skin with the wind pushing against him. He leaned into Ed and looked ahead at Tim waiting for his next plan. Tim shoved the key in his pocket and closed all the curtains, leaving them in near darkness. There was a small flame that appeared in front of Tim’s face, illuminating it in a soft orange light, “It won’t be long until Ra’s tracks us down but at least we’re away from a major town or city,” 

“What if he finds us?” Violet asked. 

“Then we’ll fight, or we’ll die trying,” 


	18. One's Last Regrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “They might kill us this time. We’re in rough shape and the rest are not prepared,” he whispered. 
> 
> She turned to look at him, “are they not ready, or is it you that’s not ready?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The art for this chapter was provided by the wonderful @dlanorart on Tumblr!

The cottage became homier the longer they spent inside together. Cassie vaguely remembered even stopping at a shopping center on the way here for groceries. They were all crammed together in the little two-bedroom cottage. She was sitting on one of the chairs at the small dining table, this chair in specific creaked every time she moved. For the past few days they were prepping for this fight they were going to have. Tim was determined to worry them, and he didn’t tend to look on the light side whenever he gave his speeches.

A part of her was still pissed at him for being an idiot and the other part of her was gutted for what she said to him. It still didn’t sit right. Their last conversation before he went after Deathstroke had her wishing he would get himself killed, which he almost succeeded at doing. 

A lot of the group was still asleep. Tara and Violet were sleeping opposite ends of each other on the couch nearest to the fireplace. 

The first time they fought Ra’s, Jaime and Tim died and Cassie was on her way to joining them. She wasn’t excited to fight Ra’s and his people; she was bloody terrified. Just the mere thought of it made her stomach churn making her want to puke. 

She cast her gaze back over to the fireplace and the figure moving in front of it. It was Tim and when he turned his head slightly to the left the light from the fire illuminated the injuries that still lingered. When she looked at him, her heart would swell, and she would get a dizzying feeling in her head. Cassie still liked him, there was no denying that. It wasn’t like she could turn her feelings off. It wasn’t love; she couldn’t call it love because from Dick’s perspective he’d been in love with every girl he’s been with, yet he went through them like a change of clothes. She watched Tim sit down in front of the fire, slowly and carefully to try and keep from aching as much as possible. 

Cassie watched the way he moved now more than ever. The Boy Wonder didn’t have fancy superpowers to help him heal quicker or prevent him from feeling pain. The chair squeaked as she stood and slowly padded over towards the fireplace. The heat made goosebumps trail across her skin underneath her layered clothes. She didn’t realize how cold she was over in the corner until her face was flushed red from the sudden warmth touching her cold skin. The blonde sat down next to him and stared ahead at the wavering flames. The only sounds were the crackling of the fire, their breathing, and the cabins creaking from the wind outside. 

It wouldn’t be bad to come back here now that she thought about it. With a little sprucing up, the quaint little cottage could be a rustic getaway from the hero life or school. Every time their eyes met since being in this cabin all she saw was fear. Tim was scared, no one else really could sense it but her and Cassandra. She could even see the slight worry in Cass’s eyes too. “How are you feeling?” she asked quietly, her voice barely above a whisper. There was silence and Tim shifted around next to her. He was so very hard to coax answers out of, especially if the questions were regarding his well-being. 

“They might kill us this time. We’re in rough shape and the rest are not prepared,” he whispered. 

She turned to look at him, “are they not ready, or is it you that’s not ready?” 

There was silence again. Tim turned his head to look at her, meeting her gaze for a moment before looking away again. The question seemed to hit him hard. Cassie hardly ever used to stick to plans or really any form of structure until what happened at the Lazarus Pit. They went in with no sense of a plan, they were all over the place, and they paid for it. She wondered how they did it? How did Artemis, M’gann, hell even Diana – how did they do it? They were so strong and sure of themselves and they kicked ass on the battlefield. 

“Cassie I’m – **_scared,”_** Tim whispered, having forced the word from his mouth. 

His voice was flat, normal, but his face suddenly contorted into a look of despair. Tim was usually so shielded, protective of his emotions but now he just looked defeated. It was like he was at the end of his rope; she was pretty sure she was already there just holding on by a thread. She reached out and took his hand in hers, squeezing it tightly. Cassie leaned forward and pressed her forehead against his and sighed, closing her eyes. 

“We’re going to live,” she whispered; eyes still closed. 

“Cassie we might not -”

“We are going to live.” 

They pulled back but Cassie kept a hold of his hand and for once Tim didn’t try to escape. She wanted to kiss him and hold him and tell him that everything was going to be alright even though it might all go to hell. But she couldn’t. Cassie couldn’t bring herself to dive headfirst into her dizzying affection again, not now. She couldn’t, not with so much at stake. They sat by the fireplace for god knows how long. Pretty soon everyone else was awake and in the main area of the cottage. They were all exhausted despite sleeping for hours, no one could ever truly rest with the threat of death hanging over their head. 

Cassie let go of Tim’s hand about when people began to gather around the fireplace. She stood, hand lingering for a moment on his shoulder before sliding off as she moved towards the kitchen to grab a snack. Cassandra was over there mulling over a cup of tea she made. 

“Still hot,” Cass said when Cassie approached. 

The blonde raised an eyebrow before realizing that she was talking about the teapot of hot water on the stove. Cassie grabbed a cup and poured the hot water into it before finding a nearby teabag and stirring it around in the cup. She leaned against the counter next to Cassandra and brought the cup to her mouth, reveling in the feeling of the hot steam against her face. 

The tea was nothing like Alfred’s, but it was good enough to satiate the thirst. Tea oddly reminded her of training with Tim. They weren’t one of those couples, technically they weren’t even a couple anymore, in the League that she’s seen that end up making out by the end of a training session. They’d kick each other’s asses for hours down in the Batcave and by the end when they were all sweaty and red in the face Alfred would have tea ready for them. Training with him was always some of her fondest memories. 

“Sitting here, doing nothing, it’s making me nervous,” she said quietly to Cass. The girl nodded and sipped her own cup of tea. The two of them were watching the small group gathered around the fire. 

Tim cleared his voice and stood with his back to the fire. They all looked to him in an instant. For a moment he met Cassie’s eyes and gave her a small nod. 

“We’ve been taking everything for granted. Over the past few years all we were to someone like Ra’s Al Ghul or Deathstroke is children. Over and over again we were constantly underestimated and now we’re not. Ra’s sees us as a real threat – not children, but a threat that needs to be cut out. It’s been a few days since we got here, and I know now that our time is numbered. It’s only a matter of time before he tracks us down. A lot of us are injured,” he looked towards Bart who grimaced, “and this is probably going to be the hardest you’ve all ever fought.” She noticed how Tim glanced down at his hands, taking a breath. 

“Yes, we don’t have backup and we don’t have many of our accessories, but we don’t need them. We’re smarter than that and we’ve been trained by some of the greatest fighters in the world. There’s already been some casualties over the past few weeks so I’m going to say this now. You are not allowed to die.” 

It was quiet. 

“So, let’s kick some assassin ass!” Cassie piped up throwing her fist into the air. 

A few hours past and they were all working hard, preparing for a battle they were anxiously awaiting. Cassie couldn’t find her lasso and the thought of her potentially having left it at the Wayne cabin made her sick. She stepped outside of the small cottage, crossing her arms and lingering on the porch. A few of them were outside training. Violet and Tara were sparring, Violet dodged several of Tara’s rather aggressive attacks – Cassie remembered that the Markovian Princess was trained by Deathstroke. She looked forward when she heard Jaime yelling her name, a blur was headed straight for her. 

Cassie flew forward and up with the blur that was Bart hanging from her arms. He looked up and gave her a smile, cracked red goggles sitting over his eyes. 

“Thanks for the save _Wonderful_ girl,” he said with a wink, the name rolling off his tongue. Cassie laughed and flew to the ground, dropping Bart onto his feet and landing in the snow beside him. The two Latino boys ran up to them, Jaime’s face was flushed red with embarrassment. 

“Sorry, miscalculated,” he mumbled scratching the back of his head, his gaze fixed to the ground. 

“Dude that was so crash!” Bart yelled; he was grinning like an idiot. 

Ed was shaking his head and looking at Bart in disbelief. He was probably just surprised that his boyfriend didn’t go crashing through the front door of the cottage. 

“Ed we should do speed training, after all you’re the only one who can really match me at the moment,” Bart said, raising his eyebrows at the dark-haired boy. 

“Sure, but you’ll have to catch me first,” Ed replied, a flash of golden light and he was already meters away. 

Bart turned to Jaime, “Sorry her-man-o, I’ll catch up with you later,” 

There was a gust of wind and sparks of electricity and Bart was starting to chase Eduardo all around the property. Cassie looked to Jaime whose brown eyes were struggling to follow his friends around. He sighed, shoulders sagging, Cassie could almost say that he looked sad. She nudged him in the side as she walked past, “Come help me find my lasso.” She said, walking towards the car. He followed and she pulled the door open climbing inside. She noticed the way he lingered and watched as Bart zoomed around with Ed. 

“Now you know how it feels,” she said with a laugh. 

“What do you mean?” he asked raising an eyebrow. 

Cassie looked up from under a seat and turned her head. Boy, did Jaime really look confused. 

“Your whole ‘boo hoo my best friend abandoned me for his boyfriend’ look. You look like a kicked puppy,” she said watching as he narrowed his eyes at her in a glare. She was on her hands and knees now crawling around in the back, looking underneath the seats. 

“I don’t look like a kicked puppy,” he retorted with his arms crossed. Cassie sat up instantly and blew her hair out of her face, narrowing her eyes at him. 

“You’ve gotta be shitting me, right? Oh Mr. Jaime Reyes what am I going to do with you? Ever since Bart and Ed got together you’ve been a third wheel and you hate it; I can see it with my own two eyes,” she said, her voice lower as she glanced around to see if Bart or Ed were around to hear. 

Jaime jumped in the car now, and shut the door behind him. His face was flushed red and his posture was stiff. “So you think I’m jealous?” he laughed. 

Cassie smirked, “Bart isn’t following you around like a puppy anymore and you hate it. You two were literally inseparable until you and Traci got together and still Bart followed you around. Now, Traci is off with Zatanna somewhere and Bart’s got himself a boyfriend to occupy himself with since his best friend was ignoring him for the past few months,” 

He shook his head, “I wasn’t ignoring Bart,” 

There was a pause and she noticed how he suddenly frowned, glancing just behind him. She guessed that the scarab on his back just confirmed that she was right, and he was wrong. Everyone could see it when it happened, even Tim commented on it once or twice. Bart always looked so sad when Jaime would ditch him for Traci. Cassie was back with her head down digging around underneath the seats. Jaime was digging around underneath the front seats now too. 

“It wasn’t like I was intentionally ignoring Bart. Traci wanted to hang out and I mean, when you’re dating someone you aren’t going to have your best friend around all the time because that’s awkward…” he was starting to ramble. 

“I mean it kind of sucks,” she said, her voice slightly muffled, “there were bets going on to see how long it would take for you and Bart to go on a date with the way you two are always awkwardly skirting around each other.” 

“Bets?” he looked like a deer caught in the headlights. 

Cassie sighed and sat up. The lasso definitely wasn’t in the back of the vehicle after her thorough search. Jaime sat up as well and stared awkwardly at the floor of the car. 

“We aren’t, we wouldn’t, you guys thought that?” he sputtered. 

“Well yeah, you two are literally two peas in a pod. Not even Tim and I are that perfect,” she said nonchalantly. 

When his face flushed red, she couldn’t help but snort. The poor guy looked conflicted, a mix of confusion and worry followed by more confusion. 

“Do you think Bart liked me?” Jaime asked slowly after a moment of silence. Cassie shrugged despite knowing the answer. Of course, she knew Bart liked Jaime, he was utterly head over heels for the guy before he met Eduardo. 

“I don’t know, do you like Bart?” Cassie asked, turning his question around on him. 

“I -” There was a crashing noise outside. 

They both looked out the window to see that Tara had dropped a massive boulder near the car. Cassie then noticed a golden light glowing under the seat by Jaime, his hand was still underneath the seat. She smiled and climbed over the seats and over him, she leaned in and shoved her hand underneath the seat over top of his and grabbed the lasso that was just touching his fingers. “Thanks for finding my lasso lover boy,”she said with a smile before hopping out of the car, leaving him stunned. 

Now she felt prepared, having her lasso with her made her complete. She didn’t need a fancy outfit or suit of armor to be Wonder Girl. Her jeans and red knitted sweater would just have to suffice. Back inside Cassandra was sitting on the floor by the fireplace sharpening her sword. Tim was perched on the couch by her, sharpening the few birdarangs he brought with him. The door slammed shut behind Cassie and she jumped, immediately the bats eyes were on her. 

“Sorry!” she yelled before wincing at how loud her voice was. Why did she always have to be the loud one? 

Wonder Girl was the ‘heavy hitter’ on the team. That basically meant that she was good in fights but not in stealth, which was terrible because the original team was always given covert ops missions. 

“So, what’s the game plan?” she asked, inching her way over to the couch Tim was sitting on. He didn’t even glance up, continuing to sharpen the small projectile weapons. 

“Fight,” Cassandra said from the floor. Cassie was glad that at least someone was listening to her. Tim was supposed to be the leader. They needed guidance and he and Cassandra knew Ra’s Al Ghul the best. 

“Fight how? Are we doing a surprise attack? Are we just going to go for it?” she questioned. 

Tim finally looked up, “There is no set fight tactic. Ra’s Al Ghul is prided on the precision of the Shadows which means that he’s used to precision, ordered attacks. Take how Cassandra fights and multiply that by however many Shadows he’s going to show up with, then add Deathstroke, Talia Al Ghul, Ra’s, and his other right-hand men and women,” 

“Look I get that you two have this bat thing where you just know how to fight and work with each other, but no one else here does. It’s going to be a mess and I don’t want anyone else to die,” she said running a hand through her hair, she was pacing now. 

Slade surely knocked something loose in Tim’s head for him to be thinking like this. Cassie had never heard such a stupid idea come from his mouth in her life. Usually he was the man with the plan, but this time there didn’t seem to be a plan. 

“We’re going up against some of the world’s most notorious killers and we don’t have a plan,” she laughed in disbelief. 

The two bats watched as Cassie paced from couch to couch mumbling about how stupid of a plan this was. When she made her fourth-round back towards the couch Tim was sitting on, he reached out and grabbed her wrist. Cassie paused in her panicked pacing and looked down at his hand wrapped around her wrist and then his face which held a small smile. 

“For once Cassie, I don’t want you to overthink a stealthy plan. It’s what they’re expecting, a well thought out plan to throw them off, when in fact we’re just going to kick their asses back to the Alps,” he said while releasing her wrist. 

The plan sort of made sense but all of this was still throwing her off. Her entire time on the team before the Outsiders was always stealth and she was always reprimanded for being, well for a lack of better words clumsy. 

“So, we’re just going to go guns blazing?” she asked, eyebrows raised. 

“Yep,” he said, his gaze fixed back on the birdarangs. 

“Hell yeah,” she whispered with a grin plastered to her face. 

By the end of the day when everyone was winding down in the cottage in front of the fire, feasting on canned soup from the shop. Cassie sat there and smiled to herself. It was hard not to. This was the first time in months she’d seen everyone so lively. She was sitting on the floor in front of the couch Tim was still lounging on, her soup bowl was already empty and had been for a few minutes now. 

“My friend, how does it feel to be considered a Prince?” Eduardo asked from across the room, the question aimed towards Tim. Cassie looked up and saw Tim gulp down another spoonful of soup. 

“Tim is a Prince?” Violet asked. 

“I mean I’m more like the people’s Prince, being a billionaire’s adopted son kind of has its perks,” Tim replied smoothly. 

“Oh yeah?” Bart said sitting up, his head previously resting on Ed’s lap, “like what?” 

Tim shrugged, “One-time Cass and I got into a nightclub when I was fifteen. There was also the time Dick got arrested for speeding and Bruce had the charges dropped in under ten minutes,” “Lucky bitch,” Cassie said from the floor with a smirk. 

They all laughed including Tim. Cassandra looked to be enjoying her time as well, her face was the brightest she had ever seen. 

“Remember that time Jaime caught Gar and Perdita making out in the bathroom and Gar chased Jaime out into the hall and the two fell down the stairs?” Bart asked trying so very hard to contain his laughter. This was the first time they had mentioned Gar since he, well, since he died.

“Remember when we were training and when Gar transformed back, he stood there naked for a solid twenty seconds without noticing?” Jaime added after. 

“Gar was never one for being modest,” Tim commented. 

The next hour was spent reminiscing about their friends of the past and even past embarrassing stories about one another. Cassie even told one about the time Tim tried to make Alfred’s cookies from memory and ended up accidentally adding salt instead of sugar – no amount of water was able to get the salty taste from her mouth at the time. Soon the laughter began to die down and then there was a long silence. 

“I couldn’t have picked a better group of people to die with,” Bart said, his attempt at a dark joke fell flat. The realization was starting to set in for everyone. Ra’s Al Ghul, Deathstroke, Talia Al Ghul, the League of Assassins, and countless others under the Al Ghul rule were coming after them. “I’ve got a crash game to play, one my old group and I used to play during the apocalypse,” Bart beamed. 

“And what could that possibly be?” Tara retorted, her tone a slightly annoyed one. 

“Fantastic you asked. So basically, before we went on scouting missions or when we were in a really moded situation, we would spill our regrets to each other. It made doing the terrible things a bit easier,” he explained. 

There was silence again, people were processing it. Cassie forgot that Bart was from an apocalyptic future. Even though the timeline was rewritten, Bart was living proof of the carnage that unfolded on the planet. 

“I regret lying to Brion.” Violet sputtered out. 

“Hurting,” Cassandra said after. 

“Giving my papa a rough time when all he wanted to do was help me,” Eduardo said quietly. 

“I regret betraying my country, my friends, my family…” Tara trailed off. 

Cassie looked down at the empty bowl of soup in her hands. Everyone sounded so sad now, so regretful. It made her think back to what she said to Tim the night Slade almost killed him. Just the thought of those terrible words she said to him made her want to puke. She looked up from the bowl at her friends. 

“I regret wishing Tim would get himself killed the night he fought Deathstroke,” She said, her voice was quiet, and it trembled with every word. Saying it aloud though, admitting it and regretting it, made her feel a tad lighter. Tim’s hand squeezed her shoulder and she reached and placed her hand on top of his. 

“I put my desire to be Robin above my family,” Tim admitted. 

“I wish I told my family sooner that I was Blue Beetle. The first time they saw me the Reach were controlling me, and they were scared of me,” Jaime said, Cassie noticed the way his fingers curled into the fabric of his jeans. 

“What do you regret Bart?” Tim then asked. 

The speedster shrugged, he was sitting up in between Ed and Jaime. Cassie watched him and noticed the flicker of darkness in his green eyes. She didn’t know a lot about his past, but he disclosed bits and pieces to her. He leaned his head back against the sofa and closed his eyes. “Lying about my feelings. Lying to others. Lying so I don’t get tortured. Lying and getting someone killed. I’m a liar,” he said, the words moved easily past his lips as if he’d said this a hundred times. 

“I’m sorry about the future, again,” Jaime apologized for what was probably the thousandth time. 

“You weren’t in control. I was, and I lied,” 

Everyone went to bed after the little game of regrets. Cassie was in one of the two bedrooms in the cottage. It was small and had a wooden bunkbed, dresser, and a side table with a dead lamp. Cassandra was on the top bunk and she could only guess that the girl was asleep with her sword clutched firmly in hand. Cassie on the other hand was wide awake and riddled with anxiety. She and Tim were sharing the bottom bunk, they could still share a bed and be civil about it. The blonde laid awake staring at the wall replaying what everyone had said in her mind. “Please don’t die Cassie,” Tim whispered behind her. 

“As long as you keep yourself alive too,” she whispered back. 

An explosion shook the tiny cottage a few hours later. 


	19. Way Down We Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Shadows arrive alongside Deathstroke and Talia Al Ghul. This is a fight that the teens might not win.

What was it that started the battle? Yes, the explosion. Deathstroke had fired a rocket at the right side of the tiny cottage and it shook the entire building. None of them knew who threw the first punch, maybe it was Cassie? The suns red light was piercing through the naked trees and casting a red glow on the snowy ground. Ra’s Al Ghul was still nowhere to be found amongst the Shadows that moved swiftly and struck aggressively. A dozen or so Shadows were suddenly knocked to the side flying into trees or harshly into the ground by a blur. Cassandra was holding her own, but she could only last for so long, her skill wasn’t being questioned, it was the sheer number of Shadows attacking her that would soon overwhelm her.

Piercing shots were echoing around the tree-enclosed area, Deathstroke was hiding in the bushes, which was unlike him. For some reason he was sticking to the sidelines and trying to pick them off one by one via sniper rifle. The only equipped person out of all of them was Jaime, but that was mostly due to the fact that his suit and weapons were all stored in the scarab attached to his spine. He was flying overhead above the fight with a shield formed on his right arm to block the bullets that would fire his way. The Scarab was speaking to him, informing him of the different threats and of his friends’ statuses. 

He was firing pins down at the Shadow’s, attaching them to trees or the ground. It wasn’t always a one-hundred-percent hit, they were highly trained and unless distracted there was about a forty percent chance of actually hitting one of them. A red beam suddenly came his way and just as he turned around to face it Cassie flew in front of him, her wrists crossed revealing the silver cuffs that repelled the red beam away. A few bullets came from other directions and she blocked them all, the tiny pieces of metal flattening against her cuffs. They were back to back, Cassie throwing her lasso at a Shadow and then throwing said Shadow into a dozen others while Jaime fired off a few canon blasts per Scarabs recommendation. 

“Y’know, for someone whose got a talking weapon on their back you sure are slow when it comes to saving your own life. Talia has -” 

“Apokaliptan weapons, same ones that hit me during that ambush,” he interjected. 

“I’ve spotted Deathstroke, I’m going after him,” Cassie said and before Jaime could say anything to more her, she was gone. 

He narrowly dodged another red blast from the weapon Talia was holding below. Jaime dove down and headed for her, spinning out of the way and barreling through other Shadows. He saw flashes of gold in his peripherals, he could only guess it was Eduardo teleporting around. Talia saw the boy heading towards her, her lips curled up into a smirk. She hadn’t been in a fair fight in such a long time, although she doubted he would last long. The Apokaliptan weapon was in the form of a pistol which she held up and continued shooting in the Beetles direction. 

She raised her free hand to her ear, “The Beetles mine, deal with the rest of them. But the Bats…” she focused her gaze on Tim and Cassandra who were fighting back to back on the field a little way away, “- avoid the face. I wish for my loves’ children to be presentable when we deliver him their corpses,” 

A boulder came flying overhead, landing behind. Tara was near the cottage, cornered against the wall by a few Shadows. The handle of the sword hit her in the face, and she fell back into the wall. She brought her hand to her nose and wiped at it seeing the blood on her skin. A Shadow slashed the sword down towards her and she stopped the blade with her hand feeling it slice into her palm. 

“Don’t touch me,” she hissed, the ground began to shake and crack. A pillar shot out of the ground underneath the Shadow. Two gaping holes opened up underneath the other two assassins causing them to fall deep into the Earth. 

She hissed and squeezed her hand closed as she pushed herself back up onto her feet. Everyone of them that came at her was met with a rock wall or a boulder. Tara stopped by one of the boulders she dropped and grabbed the sword that was loosely clutched in the hand that stretched out from underneath the rock. She yanked it from the hand and twisted the sword around, spinning quickly to clash the blade against another’s that came from behind. An orange light flew overhead and landed in front of Tara. Violet gave the girl a friendly smile, their aura changed to yellow and a few blasts of energy shot down two other Shadows. 

A few other Shadows appeared, Tara went back to fighting, the clashing of metal against metal was a satisfying sound. It reminded her of the few times she fought with Slade during training. A Shadow came barreling towards her and Tara swung her sword, the person instead dropped and slid under Tara’s arm slashing the back of her leg open with the sharp blade. Blood spurted out and she screamed falling to one knee. The ground was rumbling again but before she could do anything a blur blew past behind her and the Shadow was gone. Bart reappeared and slid the cracked goggles up onto his forehead and grinned. He was sweaty and his face was smattered with dirt and blood. 

“You good?” he asked, pulling her to her feet. 

Tara hissed, “my leg.” 

“Don’t worry I can get you to – one second,” he said leaving her side and disappearing in a gust of wind. 

The speedster was back in a blink with a sword in hand and a new cut on his arm that had slashed through his shirt. 

“Now I can -” he was interrupted again when Halo landed beside them and cast a red shield around them preventing the Shadows from coming closer. 

“Tara your leg!” Violet said alarmed, eyes wide. 

“I can fix!” a violet colour was added to the already red aura. 

The Shadows were pounding on the shield as Bart watched Violet kneel down and press their hand to the back of Tara’s leg where the wound was. A violet light miraculously healed it, leaving Tara in better shape than before. 

“As much as this break was crash, we need to go back out and kick some assassin ass,” Bart said pointing at the Shadows that were circling the shield. Violet’s aura shifted to orange and yellow, the shield dropped, and Bart sped into the crowd. 

“Over here!” he yelled to a small group of Shadows from behind. They turned around and he stuck his tongue out at them. In a blur he was suddenly on the other side of them, he tapped on one of their shoulders. 

“Bam!” he yelled punching them square in the face. 

“Pow, pow, pow!” he continued while knocking out the rest with a flurry of precisely aimed punches. 

Bart repeated this with a few others, saying corny things and making an absolute fool of them. There was a flash of golden light and he turned around to see Ed. He looked terrible with blood running down the side of his face and a tired expression. He stumbled forwards and Bart grabbed onto him looking over his shoulder to see a small knife sticking out of his shoulder. 

“Not a good fighter,” Ed said in between tired breaths. The poor guy was already exhausted, and Bart knew that Ed wasn’t a fighter. He wasn’t exactly trained for battle, and usually during missions he played keep away to distract the bad guys while everyone else dealt the heavy damage. 

“Take it out” Ed huffed; Bart could feel him curling his fingers into his shirt. 

“Dude you’ll bleed,” Bart said flatly. 

“Please,” He pleaded. 

There was a long sigh and Bart reached around and yanked the knife out. It wasn’t too deep in Ed’s shoulder, but from the yell he could tell that it hurt like hell. The speedster heard someone else yell and time slowed. He pulled himself away from Ed and looked around with the knife still in his hand. 

Then he spotted him. 

Jaime and Talia Al Ghul across the field. He was hunched over and Talia had a blade plunged into stomach. Time quickened and Bart looked back at Ed who looked a tad confused. 

“Take this, you’ll need it. Be careful!” Bart said quickly as he tossed the knife over and sped off. 

It felt like he was running kilometers to them. He wasn’t even thinking when he dove at Talia and the two went flying, rolling into the snow. Bart opened his eyes and he was on top of the very angry woman. 

“Nope!” he yelled pinning one of her hands down, he did the same with her other. What he didn’t expect was for her legs to wrap around him and slam him into the ground. Talia went fumbling in the snow for her gun and pointed it at Bart who moved just in time for the bullet to graze the side of his head. The loud popping sound the gun made was deafening and left his ears ringing. 

He clambered to his feet and ran, swinging around and coming back to kick her in the stomach launching her a few meters away near the outlining brush of the property. Bart made it quick to Jaime who was lying in the snow after being knocked back by Bart when he tackled Talia to the ground. 

“No, no, no, dude this so isn’t crash!” he yelled shaking his friend. He tried to move Jaime’s hand, but the older boy recoiled. 

“Khaji you have to do something, he can’t die. You can’t let him die!” Bart yelled speaking directly to the Scarab. Bart frantically looked around for Violet and was instead met by a blinding bright light that had shot outwards from the middle of the field. 

For a moment everything was dark, and he blinked frantically for his sight to come back. It seemed that everyone was thrown off by the sudden blinding blast because Shadows were stumbling around confused. 

“You died on me once, I’m not letting you die again,” Bart said aloud and he pressed his hands down on top of Jaime’s hand to keep pressure on the wound. 

Across the ways Tim saw what was happening and made a break for it. His attention was diverted when Cassie was suddenly tossed from the bushes. She looked up from the snow and was barely able to raise her head. There was blood coming from her nose, mouth, side of her head. He had never seen her look this bad ever. 

“Cassie…” he whispered just as Slade jumped down from the small hill. His mask was cracked, and the eye patch ripped off revealing the fleshy eyehole. 

“Oh Boy Wonder, come to save the day again?” Slade asked, he didn’t even sound tired. 

Tim moved in front of Cassie and twirled the bo staff in his hand. He was already aching all over from the strenuous movements of fighting, but he rather be broken then dead. 

“Your girlfriend was angry; she should know that rage doesn’t win you a fight,” Slade said slowly approaching him. 

His stomach was queasy and flashbacks to the night Slade almost killed him came to mind. Tim already had a few injuries; he wasn’t invincible or in proper armour. In fact, all of them except Blue were fighting in their civvies. The older man slid the rifle into the sheath on his back and pulled out a sword from his hip. 

“Round two?” Slade asked lunging forwards and clashing his sword with Tim’s bo staff. 

He stumbled back and ducked out of the way, pushing the sword down the staff. Cassie had managed to stand, and she shakily ran forwards, throwing her fist towards the back of Slade’s head. The man swiftly turned, grabbing her arm and throwing her over his head into the ground. Something tugged hard in Tim’s chest when he heard her body slam against the ground, yet he refrained from moving. He knew Slade was trying to get a rise out of him, trying to make him screw up. They were all so terribly outnumbered and Ra’s still had yet to make an appearance. Who was Tim kidding, Ra’s never needed to make an appearance when he had muscle like Deathstroke working for him. 

Left, right, duck, back away – his mind was reciting every move he needed to make. It was a game of keep away, he hadn’t got a single hit in yet on Slade. Cassie was still lying on the ground, from the looks of it she was unconscious. Someone screamed and by reaction he turned his head and instantly got kicked to the ground. The blade of Slade’s sword was pressed against his throat and the man above him looked less than impressed. “Ra’s Al Ghul has us fighting piss poor children that can barely hold a fi-” he yelled when three batarangs hit him – one stuck in the side of his face. 

Tim turned his head in the snow to see Cassandra looking war torn. He heard the clicking of the safety on a gun and he looked up just in time to see Slade fire several bullets from a pistol at Cass. The dark-haired girl didn’t wince when the bullets hit her in the leg and shoulder. She kept walking towards them, teeth gritted, and eyes narrowed into a deadly glare. A few more rounds were shot off and Cassandra fell back into the snow when the final one hit her in the chest. 

“Cassandra!” he yelled, her name ripping through his throat. 

All seemed lost. They were all crumbling, falling like angels only to hit the white snow and dye it crimson. They were losing terribly, outnumbered by dozens of Shadows. This was their fate. 

_“Get up!”_ the loud voice shocked all of them. 

Cassie opened her eyes, her body aching with the slightest movements, and saw a dark shadow appearing above her. Figures descended from the dark shadow and for a moment she thought she was about to be kidnapped. 

“ezeerf!” someone yelled to her right. 

Cassie’s ears were ringing and suddenly the big dark shadow was blocked by a slimmer one standing above her. When her eyes focused, she saw Traci standing over her with her hand stretched down towards her. 

“Shake it off,” she said with a smile as she hauled the blonde to her feet. 

Cassie wiped the blood from her mouth with her hand partially smearing some on the side of her face. 

_“M’gann I can’t hold this much longer,”_ Zatanna’s voice rang through Cassie’s head. She was shaky, she noticed that Zatanna was stood just behind Traci, her jaw was locked, and her hands were tightly pressed together to hold the spell. 

“I’m going to check on the others,” Traci said before jogging off. Cassie turned around to see Tim slipping out from underneath Slade’s boot and run over to where Cassandra was lying in the snow. Her heart dropped and she ran over as well, sliding in the snow up next to Tim. 

There was so much blood seeping out of her body and into the snow. Tim looked pale and his face was breaking into a look of despair. “Is she?” 

“I don’t know.” He was all too quick to respond, almost snappy. There were heavy footsteps that ran over to them and then a shadow that blocked out the rising sun. 

“Cass.” It was Dick, and the girls name left his mouth as a whisper. 

He fell to his knees by her head and grabbed Cassandra’s wrist, pulling up the sleeve of her sweater to check for a pulse. Just then Cassandra’s eyes opened, and she yanked her hand away. It scared all three of them. 

“Oh, thank the gods,” Cassie sighed, helping the girl sit up. Cassandra pulled her sweater by the neck slightly to the side to reveal the bulletproof vest underneath. 

_“Anyone who needs immediate evac head up to the Bioship, Forager is waiting with medical supplies,”_ M’gann said in her head. 

Dick looked up, “And for those still with us, get ready to end this.” 

They stood and looked between each other. Cassandra was weak and Cassie had never seen that many holes in a person and still see them standing. “Here.” She said handing Cass back her sword that was on the ground. 

“You sure you’re good?” Tim asked while cracking his knuckles and rolling his shoulders. 

Her body ached, “I’m fine,” she answered. 

In truth, being battered was Deathstroke was not one of her finer moments. But some of the others looked way worse. She turned her head to see Violet a little way away bent over Jaime healing him. The Shadows were slowly beginning to move again, inching forwards like snails. 

_“I never imagined being on the losing side,”_ Cheshire purred in her head. Cassie looked around; the woman’s voice made chills run down her spine. Artemis was stood by the cabin helping Tara to her feet with Cheshire stood to her right with her hands on her hips. 

_“Zatanna how long?”_ Kaldur said jumping down from the bioship above. 

_“A minute, make it snappy,”_ Zatanna snapped back. 

A minute was exactly what they had. Soon Cassie and the rest were thrown back into the madness of battle. Except this time, it felt different. She didn’t feel like she was going to die out here in the middle of nowhere. 

_“On your left Cassie.”_ Bart said and she moved swiftly out of the way just in time for him to speed past. She spun around again and rammed her fist square into a Shadows face while forcefully kicking another one at her side a few meters back. When she got enough spacing, she took out her lasso and grabbed one of the Shadows with it and then proceeded to launch herself into the air and use said Shadow to knock many others down. 

_“Cassie, a hand?”_ Tim said suddenly. 

She released the unconscious Shadow from her lasso and quickly looked around. Once she had eyes on him, she counted down in her head from five and as soon as she thought the number one Tim’s hand shot into the air and she grabbed it pulling him out of the fray. 

“Drop me there,” He said, pointing to where Dick and Artemis were brawling with Slade. Cassie did just that and dropped him in time to hit one of the pistols from Slade’s hand with his bo staff. The blonde flew overhead of him, he noticed her shadow disappearing from his peripherals. They were keeping Slade on his toes. Three well trained fighters on him at once was a lot to handle. Tim ducked back, bending the most backwards he’s ever done in his life, and watched the blade of Slade’s sword slash above him. 

It happened so fast that Tim was lucky to only have a piece of his hair sliced away. 

“Here I thought I would be getting Batman,” Slade said loudly as Dick grabbed the man’s shoulder. Slade twisted out of it and drilled a knife into the first Boy Wonder’s stomach. Dick yelled and for a moment Artemis was thrown off, Tim could see the way her eyes widened, and she paused for a moment of time. Slade took that advantage to pull the rifle attached to his back over his head and shoot her in the shoulder point blank. She was thrown back into the snow. With his other hand Slade pulled the knife from Dick’s stomach and wiped the blood off on his pants. 

“Round two?” the man asked looking directly at Tim. 

_“Tim, go and assist Tara and Violet,”_ M’gann said. 

He looked up to see the Martian floating above Slade. Her eyes turned a bright green and suddenly the marksman was hovering in the air. A blur flew past underneath him and one of the swords on the man’s waist was gone. Tim dashed away to provide the assist just as Connor landed in the snow in front of Artemis, ground shaking. 

He extended his hand to the blonde, “just like old times?” she asked, wincing as Connor pulled her to her feet. She touched the wound in her shoulder and bit her lip, the bullet looked to have gone clean through. 

“Will you be okay?” M’gann asked Dick from above. 

He nodded and steeled his expression, “Fine.” 

Slade was dropped to the ground, just as he was about to jump to his feet a rush of water plummeted on top of him pushing him back down. Connor moved out of the way to see Kaldur stood behind him. 

“It’s been awhile, Slade,” Kaldur said walking up to the soaked man. 

Slade growled and looked up, “Atlantean,” He spat. 

Across the ways Talia Al Ghul was spinning her sword around in her hand, several well-trained Shadows at her side. Eduardo appeared in front of her, she laughed just at the sight of the broken and bleeding kid. “Is that how you hold a sword?” she scoffed as she saw him raise the sword up. His hands were shaking, and his gaze was shifty. This was the hardest he’s ever fought. 

_“Bart if this gets me killed...”_ Eduardo said, he looked to his right and left again. 

_“What good is a relationship without trust?”_ Bart said back in a teasing tone. 

Jaime landed beside him, the boy stumbling forwards slightly as he did. Eduardo was surprised to see him still standing. “I thought you were -” 

“Scarab’s patched me, kind of,” Jaime answered, he sounded tired. 

“I thought I killed you,” Talia hissed. 

_“Give me sixty seconds,”_ Bart’s voice rang in their heads. 

The two nodded and Jaime’s right hand morphed into a canon. The two boys smirked at Talia whose face was bright red and smile that was comparable razors and knives. She was a skilled fighter, hell of a lot more skilled than Ed could ever be. Jaime acted as a target and Ed zapped around her attacking her from all sorts of angles. As long as they had her off balance all would be fine. 

_“How much do you think she weighs?”_ Bart asked suddenly. 

_“Hermano hurry the hell up!”_ Jaime retorted. 

_“Now!”_ Bart yelled. 

A bright golden light enveloped Ed and suddenly he was behind Jaime. He grabbed him by the arm and the golden light yet again enveloped both of them. Ed swore he saw Bart mid-teleport grab Talia and zoom away. The two ended up on the other side of the property, Ed letting go of Jaime and regaining his breath. Teleporting with Bart was one thing – the speedster weighed practically nothing. But teleporting with someone who actually has muscle and heavy armour was...tiring to say the least. 

“Gracias mi amigo,” Jaime said patting Ed on the back. Ed flashed the older boy a smile and drew in a deep breath. 

The gust of wind blew towards them and suddenly Bart was standing in front of two of his favourite people. The two of them stood gaping at the speedster. There was a gash that went from his forehead to his collarbone on his left side. “She really didn’t like me grabbing h -” he couldn’t even finish his sentence before collapsing. Both Jaime and Ed went for him at the same time, Ed beating the older boy to Bart by a millisecond. 

“Scarab says there’s multiple other wounds, here, here, and here,” Jaime said pointing to several areas of the speedster’s torso. Ed cursed in Spanish and then proceeded to mumble something under his breath. “I can take hi-” 

“- no!” Ed snapped. 

Jaime placed his hand on his shoulder, “Hermano I’m pretty roughed up too. You’d be more help on the battlefield than I,” he reasoned. 

Eduardo was reluctant but he let Bart go and he watched helplessly as Jaime flew into the air and towards the Bioship. Just then Cassie fell from the sky and crashed into the ground next to him. He turned his head and looked towards the group of Shadows running towards her and cracked his knuckles. There was a golden flash of light and Ed was gone. 

The fight didn’t last much longer. Talia was completely out of range from the battle and Slade was just about tuckered out. The team was left confused when the Shadows stopped fighting. The ones that weren’t unconscious turned and stood forming a jagged pathway. Artemis dropped her crossbow and took a deep breath of air. 

Ra’s Al Ghul appeared on the field and every Shadow that he walked by bowed towards him. 

“Grayson,” the older man said firmly. Dick was stood to her right, arm wrapped around his waist. Ra’s was stood in front of the two of them, dressed in lavish greens and golds. 

“Crock,” he spat her name as if it were poison. 

“Do you understand the value of your mortality?” Ra’s asked, hands clasped behind his back. 

“Do you?” Dick retorted. 

The man’s eyes darkened, “The Lazarus Pit has been around for thousands of years. They were, are, and will be used by the greatest leaders that time has to offer. The waters are pure and as they are rare, they are sought after. Your children destroyed something priceless, timeless, power that they do not understand,” Ra’s explained. 

“They aren’t children,” Artemis said, eyes narrowed at the man. 

He turned to look at her. His eyes moving slowly from her feet to the top of her head and his only expression the entire time was disgust. 

“Like your father, greedy. I did not treat them as such, for, if I did the few you’ve lost wouldn’t be dead,” Ra’s’ lips curled into a wicked smile. M’gann went to lunge at the man but was stopped by Conner who held her tightly in his arms. 

“You’re a monster!” M’gann yelled. 

“Yes, my dear. All great Leaders are,” he replied calmly. 

Ra’s turned his attention back to Dick who looked worse for wear. He stretched his hand out from underneath the emerald green and gold cloak, extending it to the vigilante. 

“An eye for an eye, no further bloodshed,” Ra’s said, his hand waiting for the young mans. 

“We walk away, no further bloodshed,” Dick said taking his hand. 

The handshake was firm, final. It felt like a weight had been shed from his shoulders. Ra’s gave him a piercing look, one that cut through his strong façade and into his soul. The man squeezed his hand one last time and let go, hand vanishing back underneath the cloak. Dick turned around and started walking towards the Bioship, sliding the escrima sticks into sheaths on his back. The team looked at him stunned, watching him walk to the ship. Connor had to practically drag M’gann into the ship. Dick couldn’t take a breath until he was seated. “How could you let them – let **_him_** walk away!” M’gann shouted. What she said didn’t register. 

What’s done is done.


	20. Life Goes On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been a month since the fight. Garfield’s funeral finished two hours ago, and the WatchTower was silent.

It had been a month since the grand fight. The majority of the team were pretty healed up by now. Garfield’s funeral finished two hours ago, and the WatchTower was silent. Virgil’s was within days after the explosion at the Outsiders penthouse. The grief that struck them all then was striking them again now. The sky was grey and the air outside was bitter cold. M’gann didn’t break into a fit of tears like everyone expected. Instead she stood there by Connor’s side staring blankly at the casket as it was lowered. It was the silence that was eating away at everyone. Most of the Leaguers had said their piece, gave M’gann and the rest of the team their regards and then departed.

The lounge in the tower was silent save for a few whispers. The room was scattered in a sea of black. There were appetizers strewn about, but no one had touched them, not even Bart. His face had one long scar going down the right side, down his neck, and disappeared underneath the plain black sweater he was wearing. He didn’t do formal wear, but Artemis instructed him that he had to wear black. He was stood by himself by the large windows staring off into space, literally. Ed had to leave the funeral with his father as soon as it finished. The speedster still felt Ed’s kiss lingering on his cheek. 

Someone suddenly moved in front of him, leaning against the glass as well. He rolled his green-eyed gaze over to see Jaime. He hadn’t seen him since, since...he hasn’t seen him in a long time. Jaime stared at him for a long time and Bart’s face flushed red. 

“Do I still look pretty? Ed thinks the scar’s hot but he’s my boyfriend, so he doesn’t really count ‘cause he’ll always think I look good,” Bart sputtered out, his face as red as a tomato. People stared at him a lot now, especially at school. He had to come up with one hell of a story to explain how he got the very apparent scar. Jaime scratched the back of his head and quickly averted his gaze to the outside. 

“Yeah Bart, you still look...pretty.” he said quietly. 

Bart didn’t remember much after he came back from dragging Talia away. When he grabbed the crazy woman, she immediately pulled out a knife and slashed it down the side of his face all the way to his collarbone. After that she stabbed him a few times until he finally couldn’t take the pain anymore and let her go. According to Artemis when he was in the hospital falling in and out of consciousness Jaime was with him as well as Ed when his father didn’t need him. 

“How are things with Traci?” Bart asked in an attempt to keep up the small talk. 

“We broke up.” Jaime answered, he didn’t sound to glum about it. 

The speedster reached out and patted him on the arm, flashing him an apologetic smile. Jaime was honestly not too bummed about the breakup. 

“It was mutual, no worries,” Jaime continued. Bart pulled his hand back and nodded, gaze drifting down to the floor. When did things become so awkward between them? They used to be so close and now it was like they were meeting each other for the first time. Bart seemed so much older now, nothing like how he was when he was thirteen. 

“I actually wanted to talk to you about some things that happened when you were out. Want to come over to mine after and hangout?” Jaime asked. 

“Sorry her-man-o, totally would, but Ed’s taking me out tonight. It’s a secret which is pretty crash.” 

There was a look of hurt that flashed for a brief second through Jaime’s eyes before he steeled it away. 

Bart frowned, “Is it that important? I can cancel if you want. Did I say something wrong?” Bart’s words were practically muddled together he was speaking so fast. Luckily Jaime had Khaji Da to translate. 

“No, it’s fine. Stupid stuff really. I have to go now, I think Milagro is calling me,” Jaime said quickly before turning and walking away. Bart shrugged. If Jaime said it was nothing, then it must truly be nothing. 

In the corridor Tim and Cassie were sat on the floor. They watched Jaime walk by rather quickly towards the Zeta-tubes. She swished around water in a glass and sighed. 

“Remember that time I told you that I hoped you’d get killed and you almost did?” Cassie asked, staring ahead at the other side of the hallway. 

“Yes, wasn’t one of my best nights,” Tim said turning his head to look at her, eyebrow raised. 

“Can we not do that again?” Cassie asked. 

Tim turned back to staring ahead at the other side of the hallway. He could see their reflections in the thick glass walls. The stars outside were twinkling brightly, shining in her blue eyes. 

“Yeah,” he inched his hand over, “Let’s not do that again.” He breathed out and placed his hand on top of hers. Cassie didn’t move her hand and for that he was grateful. The two of them still had a lot to figure out, Tim especially. He was a mess and Cassie called him out on his shit after the battle when he tried to leave the WatchTower’s infirmary after they explicitly told him to stay. For some reason he had a need for being alone, he didn’t want anyone to get hurt because of him. Slowly but surely, he was realizing that what he wanted wasn’t possible. 

The image of Cassie being thrown to the ground by Slade in front of him flashed through his mind and he squeezed her hand. Everyone was barely hanging on after the fight, including himself. God, he almost thought he lost Cass as well. Speaking of, the girl stepped out into the corridor and walked up to them. 

“Hello,” she said giving a quick wave. Cassandra was in a black dress, flats, and had a bowtie in the side of her hair. Lately she had been exploring other fashion styles, she was becoming quite the icon in Gotham. 

“Come, sit,” Cassie said patting the spot on the floor next to her. 

The girl did so and sat next to the tall blonde on the cold floor of the WatchTower. Everyone was still milling around in the lounge one room over from them. Funerals sucked. They’ve all been to far too many. 

“Sorry for loss,” she said, “- your loss,” she corrected herself. As the days went by her speaking was improving more and more. Bruce was proud of her as was Dick, Alfred, and Tim. 

“Thank you,” Cassie said with a small smile. Cassie held out her other hand to Cassandra who reluctantly took it. The blonde smiled and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath of the filtered air. 

“Remember the time Gar smacked you in the face with a pie?” Cassie asked cracking a smile. 

“God don’t remind me. The stupid pie wasn’t even meant for me, it was meant for Bart,” Tim rolled his eyes at the memory. 

Cassandra giggled. 

Artemis and Dick were standing in the corner of the lounge. The two of them were definitely not fit for a funeral. They both had glasses of champagne, for Dick this was his third and for Artemis it was her second. The two were on a roll. She narrowed her eyes and laser focused on the crowd of whom they both considered family and close friends. 

“She’s pissed at you,” She said, voice slightly echoing in the glass when she went for a sip. 

“They all are.” 

“I’m not.” 

Ra’s Al Ghul, Talia, Slade...they all got away scot-free. For a long time M’gann was going to be angry as were the rest of them. Maybe it was the strange bond that the two of them had that made her understand why Dick made the deal? Perhaps it was the Gotham in them. Many of them wouldn’t understand and that was okay. 

“You know who’d be really pissed?” Artemis asked, mouth dragging into a sly smile. 

“Enlighten me,” Dick said rolling his eyes. 

“Wally.” 

Dick snorted and Artemis had to slap her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing. Yeah... they really shouldn’t be at the funerals little after party. Garfield wouldn’t be mad; they knew that wherever he was he probably knew that this wasn’t their scene. The kid wouldn’t take it to heart. 

“Do you know how many times I got to hear about your stupid fights?” she said, trying to hold back her laughter. She was at this point that whenever she thought about Wally she’d simply smile or even laugh. For the longest time a part of her would cling onto the belief that he would come back but by now she’s learned to cherish the time she had with him. 

“How’s Barbara?” Artemis then asked, finding the redhead in the crowd. 

She was sitting in her wheelchair by M’gann who was on the sofa. Dick found the redhead as well and smiled fondly at her as he watched her speak to the grieving Martian. “Good. She’s hidden all the liquor for one thing,” he said trying not to sound so sad when he said it. 

“Oh, boohoo rich boy. Go to the bar like everyone else,” 

Tara and Violet approached them out of nowhere. Ever since the explosion at the Outsiders base, they both had been staying with Artemis and Will. It wasn’t all that bad, they were one big dysfunctional family. She wouldn’t trade it for the world. 

“Tara wishes to leave,” Violet sputtered out. Tara quickly elbowed Violet in the side and flashed Artemis a very forced smile. She knew that this wasn’t Tara’s scene either. After being Stockholm-syndromed by Slade, she could understand why. Artemis checked the phone and batted her eyes when she saw the time; four-thirty. 

“Didn’t realize what time it was, but we can do this. When we get home Will’s going to take you straight to soccer practice Tara and I am going to get Violet to drive to driving school, with me there of course I’ve just had a little too much to drink,” Artemis said quickly. 

“Really? You trust me to drive?” Violet asked. 

“Yes...,” Artemis didn’t sound too sure of herself. 

She grabbed the two teens by their shoulders and started to walk away before pausing and turning to look over her shoulder at Dick who was still stood in the corner. 

“You’re coming to Tara’s game this weekend, right?” she asked, her face was a tad flushed from the alcohol. 

“Of course, wouldn’t miss it for the world. I’ll be the cool embarrassing uncle,” he said with a smirk. 

Tara groaned and cursed under her breath. Which Artemis immediately picked up on and scolded her all the way out of the room and down the hallway to the Zeta-tubes. Life still went on. It had to go on. If it didn’t then there would be no superheroes to save the day. Dick knew that Garfield did what he did, the team that went after Ra’s knew exactly what they were getting themselves into. It was terrible what happened to Garfield and to Virgil and to every other person that was killed in the explosion but that was just life. Part of the hero life. So M’gann and the rest might hate him for a while, but he stood by his choice. They didn’t know Ra’s as intimately as he and his family did. 

The kids weren’t to be treated as kids anymore. They no longer had that element of surprise because the villains were no longer going to underestimate them. Dick couldn’t decide if that was good or bad. Only time would tell and as time went on so did life.


End file.
